input
null | response
stringlengths 1.55k
216k
| chosen_question
stringclasses 36
values | rejected_question
stringclasses 36
values | margin
float64 0.25
0.25
| pi_key
stringlengths 64
64
| pi_score_chosen
float64 0
0.97
| pi_score_rejected
float64 0
0.96
| pi_score_chosen_sfc_q_30750
float64 0
0.95
| pi_score_rejected_sfc_q_30750
float64 0
0.96
| pi_score_chosen_sfc_o_33000
float64 0
0.97
| pi_score_rejected_sfc_o_33000
float64 0
0.95
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
null | an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 - 5 . referring to fig1 , illustrated therein is a schematic block diagram of a personal knowledge - based connection system 10 according to the present invention . the system is referred to as a personal knowledge - based system because it provides a connection between a user &# 39 ; s ( or layperson &# 39 ; s ) location 12 and that of a specific provider 16 . examples of a specific provider are circuit city , home depot , ace hardware or any entity that provides consumer goods . alternatively , the knowledge - based connection and information transfer system of the present invention can be implemented as a kiosk ( or other stand - alone location ) within a specific provider . this differs from the market broker knowledge - based system that will be described in greater detail with respect to fig3 - 5 . as shown , the personal - based connection system 10 includes a user location 12 , which is connected to a specific provider through a communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link can also be performed over a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or any suitable land - line and / or wireless network . sensor 14 , such as , for example , temperature sensors , humidity sensors , light sensors or any other suitable ( wireless or wire - line ) sensing device may be used to detect the user &# 39 ; s environment and transmit information related thereto to the provider 16 . a camera , preferably a digital camera having wireless transmission capabilities 30 , equipped with an illuminating mechanism ( e . g ., a light ) 31 may be used to provide a visual image of the user &# 39 ; s environment ( or problem to resolve ) within the user location 12 and transmit such visual image to the provider 16 over the communication link 15 . a wireless microphone 32 or appropriate transceiver may be used to provide verbal information transfer between the user and the expert , either alone , or simultaneously with the visual image of the user environment over the communication link 15 . in an exemplary embodiment , the voice and / or image information is transmitted to the communication link 15 through a suitable application 13 that is running within or about location 12 . in this fashion , the user is able to move about the particular location 12 , and is not restricted to any specific or otherwise limited area . the provider 16 includes an expertise manager 18 , which in an exemplary embodiment may act as a searchable database utilizing a processor 19 and a memory 19 , which maintains a directory of available experts ( e 1 , e 2 , e 3 ) 20 - 24 , respectively , that are available to receive the information regarding the user environment and provide advice on how to resolve any user issues or other troubleshooting problems . the expertise manager 18 may be equipped with a voice recognition engine for converting the user &# 39 ; s oral requests and / or questions into a digital format that is more suited for transmission over the communication link 15 . the expertise manager 18 may also be equipped with a second ( i . e ., text - to - speech ) engine for providing a means for the experts to communicate directly with the user . it will be appreciated and recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that the voice recognition engine and / or the text - to - speech engine can be part of application 13 maintained at the user location 12 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the experts 20 - 24 are associated with the provider 16 of the service . thus , using an electronics store as an example , each of the experts 20 - 24 are employees or contractors of the electronic store provider . however , it should be noted that the employees are not limited to reside within a particular location . for example , experts 20 and 22 may reside in one location , while expert 24 resides in another location . accordingly , if expert 24 is the most appropriate individual to answer the user request , expert 24 will be connected to and communicate with the user . the operation of the system illustrated in fig1 will now be described with reference to fig2 . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating the operating steps performed by the knowledge - based connection system shown in fig1 . the process begins at step 100 with the user or layperson connecting to the provider 16 by orally requesting assistance for a particular problem . the request is received by the voice recognition engine of the expertise manager 18 through communication link 15 , as shown in fig1 . next , the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to communicate the general nature of the problem and the parameters of the problem ( e . g ., context within which the problem exists ). such information is received in step 102 . the process then moves to step 104 . in step 104 , the expertise manager 18 searches the database of provider employees and contractors and provides the layperson with a list of available experts 20 - 24 ( shown in fig1 ), based on the information provided by the user via the text - to - speech engine . the layperson then reviews the list and selects one of the available experts to be connected to . the process then proceeds to step 105 . in step 105 , a determination is made as to whether the selected expert is available for a consultation . if the selected expert is not available , the process moves back to step 104 where the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to make another selection . on the other hand , if the selected expert is available , the process moves to step 106 . in step 106 , the layperson &# 39 ; s request and operating environment is transferred to the expert for review . while connected to the expert , the layperson can discuss the problem with the expert , provide the expert with a real - time image of the problem context by transmitting the image through the use of a wireless camera or a simultaneous transmission of both image and voice information . alternately , the layperson can be connected to the expert through a direct communication link 17 . the session can be terminated by either the layperson or the expert once the layperson &# 39 ; s questions have been satisfactorily answered or the issues adequately resolved . the aforementioned provider - based system can be implemented as a fee - based system or a free system depending on the interests or objectives of the provider . if the provider - based system is to be implemented as a fee - based system , the expertise manager 18 may include time - monitoring functionality , which monitors the amount of time the user is connected to the expert , and bills the user for such time , or the user may be billed on a fixed - fee basis . with either billing method , the user will be queried to provide the expertise manager 18 with a method of payment . such payment methods can include credit card information , debit card information , billing address information , store account information , or any other suitable proprietary or nonproprietary payment method . by using the provider - based system of the present invention , the user saves money by not having to pay for an in - home visit . additionally , the time spent resolving an issue may also be tremendously reduced by the user not having to wait for an expert to travel to the user location to troubleshoot and resolve the problem . also , the user may be empowered to undertake other projects and return to the particular provider 16 for the components to complete such projects , based on the satisfactory use of the knowledge - based connection system of the present invention . fig3 is a schematic block diagram of a knowledge - based connection system 10 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention . the connection system 10 is referred to as a market broker or participant - based system because it provides for a connection between a user ( at a particular remote location ) 12 and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 that are independent from each other . this differs from the personal knowledge - based system illustrated in fig1 , in that , the experts that the user or layperson are connected to , are not affiliated with the same entity . as illustrated in fig3 , the connection system 30 includes a market broker manager 40 , operative to provide a real - time connection between the user or layperson , at a remote location 12 , and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 , based on the layperson &# 39 ; s particular situation , and a metering block 42 operative to , for example , monitor the amount of time the layperson spends connected to a particular one of the plurality of experts . the experts may be present at locations remote from one another , or they may be present in the same location ( as illustrated by the dashed outline ). in addition to monitoring connection time , the metering block 42 may also be configured to calculate any charges as part of a fee - based service , and receive and process payment information such as , for example , credit card information , debit card information , or any proprietary payment information . other services or processes that may be performed by the metering block 42 include searching , providing security over the information transferred or payment information , and / or providing quality assurance benefits to the user . it should also be noted that connecting to an expert may be provided as a free service by a host . the market broker manager 40 will now be described with reference to fig4 . as illustrated in fig4 , the market broker manager 40 includes a personal services manager 42 who is operative to receive an oral description of the problem the user ( e . g ., the layperson ) is trying to resolve and / or real - time video illustrating the problem the user is trying to resolve and providing a link between the user and an appropriate expert 60 on - line 62 based on the received information . a speech engine 44 is coupled to the personal services manager 42 , and is operative to perform speech recognition such that the speech engine converts the voice and any corresponding oral commands of the user into appropriate digital signals for further use and transmission by the personal services manager 42 . in an exemplary embodiment , speech recognition is performed by an engine such as ibm viavoice . the speech engine 44 also performs text - to - speech synthesis , where digital signals are converted into audible sounds ( e . g ., words ) that the user can understand . in the embodiment , the text - to - speech synthesis is performed by the at & amp ; t natural voices engine . however , any suitable text - to - speech engine can be used without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention . a web services api 46 couples a uddi registry 48 to the personal services manager 42 . the uddi registry 48 , in one embodiment , is configured as a database that maintains a searchable list of experts in myriad fields . the expert list includes information relating to each of the experts maintained in the uddi registry including , for example , the connection capabilities of the expert , the location of the expert , an indication of whether the expert is available for consultation , the technical blueprints ( or t - models ), which explain how , programmatically , to bind and invoke an expert service and any fees charged by the expert , to name just a few . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned list of expert information is not exhaustive and any appropriate information relating to the experts that falls within the may be maintained in the personal services manager and falls within the spirit and scope of the present invention . in addition , the experts may be business or commercial entities , as well as individual persons . if the selected expert is a business entity , such entity may , for example , implement a connection system similar to that described with reference to fig1 and 2 in order to connect the use with an individual expert who can answer an user question . searching of the uddi registry 48 is performed , for example , using the xml / soap - based query patterns and protocols , as specified in the uddi 2 . 0 api specification . a user database 45 is also coupled to the personal services manager 42 and is operative to store user preferences relating to , for example , the maximum amount of fees to be paid for advice or services , preferred location and experience level of experts , billing information and any technical information pertinent to the environment of the user . although , the speech engine 44 , user database 45 , api 46 and uddi registry 48 are described as being separate components , it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned components can be integrated within the personal services manager 42 , and such a configuration is contemplated by and falls within the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the market broker manager 40 illustrated in fig4 can be implemented as a processor 41 connected to and operating according to instructions that are maintained within a memory 41 . also , it should be noted and appreciated that the expertise manager 18 can be implemented in similar fashion to the personal services manger 42 described above . referring back to fig3 , the user location 12 is connected to the market broker manager 40 via communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig3 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link 15 can also be provided by a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or appropriate land - line and wireless networks . the user location 12 also includes sensors 14 , which may also include , temperature sensors , humidity sensors or a digital camera 30 equipped with a lighting element that is adapted to wirelessly transmit video images over the communication link . a wireless microphone ( not shown ) or any other means for transmitting voice data over the communication link 15 may also be coupled to or provided within the user location . market broker system operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig5 . referring now to fig5 , the method begins at step 200 with the user or layperson connecting to the market broker manager and providing an oral request for expert assistance . in this step , the oral query ( e . g ., “ i need help connecting a phone jack to the wall ”) is received by the viavoice engine and converted into digital signals for use by the personal services manager 42 . the process then proceeds to step 202 . in step 202 , a keyword determination ( e . g ., “ phone ” “ jack ” and “ connection ”) is generated by the personal services manger 42 , based on the oral request , and the keyword ( s ) from the request are provided to the user for modification or confirmation by the text - to - speech engine . next , in step 203 , a determination is made as to whether a modification to any determined keywords is necessary . if a modification is necessary , or the layperson wants to modify the request , the process moves back to step 202 where the layperson modifies the request and the modified request is received by the personal services manager . on the other hand , if modifications are not necessary , the process moves to step 204 . in step 204 , the personal services manager 42 generates an xml / soap query pattern based on the keywords and searches the uddi registry 48 for at least one expert that meets the layperson requirements in step 205 . if no match is found , the process moves back to step 202 , where the personal service manager 42 requests the layperson for a new query ( e . g ., “ your query resulted in no matches , please make another request ”) via the text - to - speech engine . after the new query is received , the keyword ( s ) are modified and a new search is conducted . if a match is found in step 205 , the process moves to step 206 . in step 206 , the personal services manager 42 provides the layperson with a list of expert matches ( e . g ., “ john smith , smith electric ,” “ home depot ,” “ alexander jones ”), along with any contact and t - model information , through the text - to - speech engine and waits for the layperson to select an expert in step 207 . once a selection is made ( e . g ., “ john smith ”) and the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert matches , the voice and video information , if any , of the layperson environment ( e . g ., the outlet where the phone jack is to be connected ) is simultaneously transmitted to the selected expert via communication link 15 in step 208 . in this manner , the expert is provided with a real - time image of the phone jack and where it is to be connected and can provide the layperson with step - by - step instructions on how to connect the phone jack with the actual layperson environment as the model . if the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert does not match , the layperson will be alerted of the mismatch and be asked to enter a new selection ( e . g ., “ connection not possible at this time , please make another selection ”). in fee - based embodiments , the metering block 42 requests the user or layperson to enter the method of payment ( e . g ., credit card , debit card , etc .) and then keeps track of the amount of time the user is connected to the expert and calculates a bill based on the connection time . alternately , in fixed - fee based services , the user is charged once connection is made to the expert . in step 208 , the personal services manager determines whether the session has been terminated . if the session is complete , the process moves to step 210 where the connection between the layperson and the expert is terminated ( e . g ., “ connection to john smith terminated ”). the above detailed description of the present invention and the examples described therein have been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the precise embodiments disclosed , and that various changes and modifications to the invention are possible , in light of the above teaching . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Electricity'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 4855560f9fe20fa230f028059a82d4789d2cd86e09a6362f142100da58a48041 | 0.022949 | 0.039063 | 0.001099 | 0.012817 | 0.005066 | 0.02124 |
null | an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 - 5 . referring to fig1 , illustrated therein is a schematic block diagram of a personal knowledge - based connection system 10 according to the present invention . the system is referred to as a personal knowledge - based system because it provides a connection between a user &# 39 ; s ( or layperson &# 39 ; s ) location 12 and that of a specific provider 16 . examples of a specific provider are circuit city , home depot , ace hardware or any entity that provides consumer goods . alternatively , the knowledge - based connection and information transfer system of the present invention can be implemented as a kiosk ( or other stand - alone location ) within a specific provider . this differs from the market broker knowledge - based system that will be described in greater detail with respect to fig3 - 5 . as shown , the personal - based connection system 10 includes a user location 12 , which is connected to a specific provider through a communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link can also be performed over a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or any suitable land - line and / or wireless network . sensor 14 , such as , for example , temperature sensors , humidity sensors , light sensors or any other suitable ( wireless or wire - line ) sensing device may be used to detect the user &# 39 ; s environment and transmit information related thereto to the provider 16 . a camera , preferably a digital camera having wireless transmission capabilities 30 , equipped with an illuminating mechanism ( e . g ., a light ) 31 may be used to provide a visual image of the user &# 39 ; s environment ( or problem to resolve ) within the user location 12 and transmit such visual image to the provider 16 over the communication link 15 . a wireless microphone 32 or appropriate transceiver may be used to provide verbal information transfer between the user and the expert , either alone , or simultaneously with the visual image of the user environment over the communication link 15 . in an exemplary embodiment , the voice and / or image information is transmitted to the communication link 15 through a suitable application 13 that is running within or about location 12 . in this fashion , the user is able to move about the particular location 12 , and is not restricted to any specific or otherwise limited area . the provider 16 includes an expertise manager 18 , which in an exemplary embodiment may act as a searchable database utilizing a processor 19 and a memory 19 , which maintains a directory of available experts ( e 1 , e 2 , e 3 ) 20 - 24 , respectively , that are available to receive the information regarding the user environment and provide advice on how to resolve any user issues or other troubleshooting problems . the expertise manager 18 may be equipped with a voice recognition engine for converting the user &# 39 ; s oral requests and / or questions into a digital format that is more suited for transmission over the communication link 15 . the expertise manager 18 may also be equipped with a second ( i . e ., text - to - speech ) engine for providing a means for the experts to communicate directly with the user . it will be appreciated and recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that the voice recognition engine and / or the text - to - speech engine can be part of application 13 maintained at the user location 12 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the experts 20 - 24 are associated with the provider 16 of the service . thus , using an electronics store as an example , each of the experts 20 - 24 are employees or contractors of the electronic store provider . however , it should be noted that the employees are not limited to reside within a particular location . for example , experts 20 and 22 may reside in one location , while expert 24 resides in another location . accordingly , if expert 24 is the most appropriate individual to answer the user request , expert 24 will be connected to and communicate with the user . the operation of the system illustrated in fig1 will now be described with reference to fig2 . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating the operating steps performed by the knowledge - based connection system shown in fig1 . the process begins at step 100 with the user or layperson connecting to the provider 16 by orally requesting assistance for a particular problem . the request is received by the voice recognition engine of the expertise manager 18 through communication link 15 , as shown in fig1 . next , the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to communicate the general nature of the problem and the parameters of the problem ( e . g ., context within which the problem exists ). such information is received in step 102 . the process then moves to step 104 . in step 104 , the expertise manager 18 searches the database of provider employees and contractors and provides the layperson with a list of available experts 20 - 24 ( shown in fig1 ), based on the information provided by the user via the text - to - speech engine . the layperson then reviews the list and selects one of the available experts to be connected to . the process then proceeds to step 105 . in step 105 , a determination is made as to whether the selected expert is available for a consultation . if the selected expert is not available , the process moves back to step 104 where the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to make another selection . on the other hand , if the selected expert is available , the process moves to step 106 . in step 106 , the layperson &# 39 ; s request and operating environment is transferred to the expert for review . while connected to the expert , the layperson can discuss the problem with the expert , provide the expert with a real - time image of the problem context by transmitting the image through the use of a wireless camera or a simultaneous transmission of both image and voice information . alternately , the layperson can be connected to the expert through a direct communication link 17 . the session can be terminated by either the layperson or the expert once the layperson &# 39 ; s questions have been satisfactorily answered or the issues adequately resolved . the aforementioned provider - based system can be implemented as a fee - based system or a free system depending on the interests or objectives of the provider . if the provider - based system is to be implemented as a fee - based system , the expertise manager 18 may include time - monitoring functionality , which monitors the amount of time the user is connected to the expert , and bills the user for such time , or the user may be billed on a fixed - fee basis . with either billing method , the user will be queried to provide the expertise manager 18 with a method of payment . such payment methods can include credit card information , debit card information , billing address information , store account information , or any other suitable proprietary or nonproprietary payment method . by using the provider - based system of the present invention , the user saves money by not having to pay for an in - home visit . additionally , the time spent resolving an issue may also be tremendously reduced by the user not having to wait for an expert to travel to the user location to troubleshoot and resolve the problem . also , the user may be empowered to undertake other projects and return to the particular provider 16 for the components to complete such projects , based on the satisfactory use of the knowledge - based connection system of the present invention . fig3 is a schematic block diagram of a knowledge - based connection system 10 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention . the connection system 10 is referred to as a market broker or participant - based system because it provides for a connection between a user ( at a particular remote location ) 12 and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 that are independent from each other . this differs from the personal knowledge - based system illustrated in fig1 , in that , the experts that the user or layperson are connected to , are not affiliated with the same entity . as illustrated in fig3 , the connection system 30 includes a market broker manager 40 , operative to provide a real - time connection between the user or layperson , at a remote location 12 , and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 , based on the layperson &# 39 ; s particular situation , and a metering block 42 operative to , for example , monitor the amount of time the layperson spends connected to a particular one of the plurality of experts . the experts may be present at locations remote from one another , or they may be present in the same location ( as illustrated by the dashed outline ). in addition to monitoring connection time , the metering block 42 may also be configured to calculate any charges as part of a fee - based service , and receive and process payment information such as , for example , credit card information , debit card information , or any proprietary payment information . other services or processes that may be performed by the metering block 42 include searching , providing security over the information transferred or payment information , and / or providing quality assurance benefits to the user . it should also be noted that connecting to an expert may be provided as a free service by a host . the market broker manager 40 will now be described with reference to fig4 . as illustrated in fig4 , the market broker manager 40 includes a personal services manager 42 who is operative to receive an oral description of the problem the user ( e . g ., the layperson ) is trying to resolve and / or real - time video illustrating the problem the user is trying to resolve and providing a link between the user and an appropriate expert 60 on - line 62 based on the received information . a speech engine 44 is coupled to the personal services manager 42 , and is operative to perform speech recognition such that the speech engine converts the voice and any corresponding oral commands of the user into appropriate digital signals for further use and transmission by the personal services manager 42 . in an exemplary embodiment , speech recognition is performed by an engine such as ibm viavoice . the speech engine 44 also performs text - to - speech synthesis , where digital signals are converted into audible sounds ( e . g ., words ) that the user can understand . in the embodiment , the text - to - speech synthesis is performed by the at & amp ; t natural voices engine . however , any suitable text - to - speech engine can be used without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention . a web services api 46 couples a uddi registry 48 to the personal services manager 42 . the uddi registry 48 , in one embodiment , is configured as a database that maintains a searchable list of experts in myriad fields . the expert list includes information relating to each of the experts maintained in the uddi registry including , for example , the connection capabilities of the expert , the location of the expert , an indication of whether the expert is available for consultation , the technical blueprints ( or t - models ), which explain how , programmatically , to bind and invoke an expert service and any fees charged by the expert , to name just a few . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned list of expert information is not exhaustive and any appropriate information relating to the experts that falls within the may be maintained in the personal services manager and falls within the spirit and scope of the present invention . in addition , the experts may be business or commercial entities , as well as individual persons . if the selected expert is a business entity , such entity may , for example , implement a connection system similar to that described with reference to fig1 and 2 in order to connect the use with an individual expert who can answer an user question . searching of the uddi registry 48 is performed , for example , using the xml / soap - based query patterns and protocols , as specified in the uddi 2 . 0 api specification . a user database 45 is also coupled to the personal services manager 42 and is operative to store user preferences relating to , for example , the maximum amount of fees to be paid for advice or services , preferred location and experience level of experts , billing information and any technical information pertinent to the environment of the user . although , the speech engine 44 , user database 45 , api 46 and uddi registry 48 are described as being separate components , it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned components can be integrated within the personal services manager 42 , and such a configuration is contemplated by and falls within the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the market broker manager 40 illustrated in fig4 can be implemented as a processor 41 connected to and operating according to instructions that are maintained within a memory 41 . also , it should be noted and appreciated that the expertise manager 18 can be implemented in similar fashion to the personal services manger 42 described above . referring back to fig3 , the user location 12 is connected to the market broker manager 40 via communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig3 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link 15 can also be provided by a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or appropriate land - line and wireless networks . the user location 12 also includes sensors 14 , which may also include , temperature sensors , humidity sensors or a digital camera 30 equipped with a lighting element that is adapted to wirelessly transmit video images over the communication link . a wireless microphone ( not shown ) or any other means for transmitting voice data over the communication link 15 may also be coupled to or provided within the user location . market broker system operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig5 . referring now to fig5 , the method begins at step 200 with the user or layperson connecting to the market broker manager and providing an oral request for expert assistance . in this step , the oral query ( e . g ., “ i need help connecting a phone jack to the wall ”) is received by the viavoice engine and converted into digital signals for use by the personal services manager 42 . the process then proceeds to step 202 . in step 202 , a keyword determination ( e . g ., “ phone ” “ jack ” and “ connection ”) is generated by the personal services manger 42 , based on the oral request , and the keyword ( s ) from the request are provided to the user for modification or confirmation by the text - to - speech engine . next , in step 203 , a determination is made as to whether a modification to any determined keywords is necessary . if a modification is necessary , or the layperson wants to modify the request , the process moves back to step 202 where the layperson modifies the request and the modified request is received by the personal services manager . on the other hand , if modifications are not necessary , the process moves to step 204 . in step 204 , the personal services manager 42 generates an xml / soap query pattern based on the keywords and searches the uddi registry 48 for at least one expert that meets the layperson requirements in step 205 . if no match is found , the process moves back to step 202 , where the personal service manager 42 requests the layperson for a new query ( e . g ., “ your query resulted in no matches , please make another request ”) via the text - to - speech engine . after the new query is received , the keyword ( s ) are modified and a new search is conducted . if a match is found in step 205 , the process moves to step 206 . in step 206 , the personal services manager 42 provides the layperson with a list of expert matches ( e . g ., “ john smith , smith electric ,” “ home depot ,” “ alexander jones ”), along with any contact and t - model information , through the text - to - speech engine and waits for the layperson to select an expert in step 207 . once a selection is made ( e . g ., “ john smith ”) and the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert matches , the voice and video information , if any , of the layperson environment ( e . g ., the outlet where the phone jack is to be connected ) is simultaneously transmitted to the selected expert via communication link 15 in step 208 . in this manner , the expert is provided with a real - time image of the phone jack and where it is to be connected and can provide the layperson with step - by - step instructions on how to connect the phone jack with the actual layperson environment as the model . if the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert does not match , the layperson will be alerted of the mismatch and be asked to enter a new selection ( e . g ., “ connection not possible at this time , please make another selection ”). in fee - based embodiments , the metering block 42 requests the user or layperson to enter the method of payment ( e . g ., credit card , debit card , etc .) and then keeps track of the amount of time the user is connected to the expert and calculates a bill based on the connection time . alternately , in fixed - fee based services , the user is charged once connection is made to the expert . in step 208 , the personal services manager determines whether the session has been terminated . if the session is complete , the process moves to step 210 where the connection between the layperson and the expert is terminated ( e . g ., “ connection to john smith terminated ”). the above detailed description of the present invention and the examples described therein have been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the precise embodiments disclosed , and that various changes and modifications to the invention are possible , in light of the above teaching . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Electricity'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | 4855560f9fe20fa230f028059a82d4789d2cd86e09a6362f142100da58a48041 | 0.010986 | 0.002884 | 0.000828 | 0.001328 | 0.001869 | 0.01001 |
null | an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 - 5 . referring to fig1 , illustrated therein is a schematic block diagram of a personal knowledge - based connection system 10 according to the present invention . the system is referred to as a personal knowledge - based system because it provides a connection between a user &# 39 ; s ( or layperson &# 39 ; s ) location 12 and that of a specific provider 16 . examples of a specific provider are circuit city , home depot , ace hardware or any entity that provides consumer goods . alternatively , the knowledge - based connection and information transfer system of the present invention can be implemented as a kiosk ( or other stand - alone location ) within a specific provider . this differs from the market broker knowledge - based system that will be described in greater detail with respect to fig3 - 5 . as shown , the personal - based connection system 10 includes a user location 12 , which is connected to a specific provider through a communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link can also be performed over a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or any suitable land - line and / or wireless network . sensor 14 , such as , for example , temperature sensors , humidity sensors , light sensors or any other suitable ( wireless or wire - line ) sensing device may be used to detect the user &# 39 ; s environment and transmit information related thereto to the provider 16 . a camera , preferably a digital camera having wireless transmission capabilities 30 , equipped with an illuminating mechanism ( e . g ., a light ) 31 may be used to provide a visual image of the user &# 39 ; s environment ( or problem to resolve ) within the user location 12 and transmit such visual image to the provider 16 over the communication link 15 . a wireless microphone 32 or appropriate transceiver may be used to provide verbal information transfer between the user and the expert , either alone , or simultaneously with the visual image of the user environment over the communication link 15 . in an exemplary embodiment , the voice and / or image information is transmitted to the communication link 15 through a suitable application 13 that is running within or about location 12 . in this fashion , the user is able to move about the particular location 12 , and is not restricted to any specific or otherwise limited area . the provider 16 includes an expertise manager 18 , which in an exemplary embodiment may act as a searchable database utilizing a processor 19 and a memory 19 , which maintains a directory of available experts ( e 1 , e 2 , e 3 ) 20 - 24 , respectively , that are available to receive the information regarding the user environment and provide advice on how to resolve any user issues or other troubleshooting problems . the expertise manager 18 may be equipped with a voice recognition engine for converting the user &# 39 ; s oral requests and / or questions into a digital format that is more suited for transmission over the communication link 15 . the expertise manager 18 may also be equipped with a second ( i . e ., text - to - speech ) engine for providing a means for the experts to communicate directly with the user . it will be appreciated and recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that the voice recognition engine and / or the text - to - speech engine can be part of application 13 maintained at the user location 12 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the experts 20 - 24 are associated with the provider 16 of the service . thus , using an electronics store as an example , each of the experts 20 - 24 are employees or contractors of the electronic store provider . however , it should be noted that the employees are not limited to reside within a particular location . for example , experts 20 and 22 may reside in one location , while expert 24 resides in another location . accordingly , if expert 24 is the most appropriate individual to answer the user request , expert 24 will be connected to and communicate with the user . the operation of the system illustrated in fig1 will now be described with reference to fig2 . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating the operating steps performed by the knowledge - based connection system shown in fig1 . the process begins at step 100 with the user or layperson connecting to the provider 16 by orally requesting assistance for a particular problem . the request is received by the voice recognition engine of the expertise manager 18 through communication link 15 , as shown in fig1 . next , the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to communicate the general nature of the problem and the parameters of the problem ( e . g ., context within which the problem exists ). such information is received in step 102 . the process then moves to step 104 . in step 104 , the expertise manager 18 searches the database of provider employees and contractors and provides the layperson with a list of available experts 20 - 24 ( shown in fig1 ), based on the information provided by the user via the text - to - speech engine . the layperson then reviews the list and selects one of the available experts to be connected to . the process then proceeds to step 105 . in step 105 , a determination is made as to whether the selected expert is available for a consultation . if the selected expert is not available , the process moves back to step 104 where the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to make another selection . on the other hand , if the selected expert is available , the process moves to step 106 . in step 106 , the layperson &# 39 ; s request and operating environment is transferred to the expert for review . while connected to the expert , the layperson can discuss the problem with the expert , provide the expert with a real - time image of the problem context by transmitting the image through the use of a wireless camera or a simultaneous transmission of both image and voice information . alternately , the layperson can be connected to the expert through a direct communication link 17 . the session can be terminated by either the layperson or the expert once the layperson &# 39 ; s questions have been satisfactorily answered or the issues adequately resolved . the aforementioned provider - based system can be implemented as a fee - based system or a free system depending on the interests or objectives of the provider . if the provider - based system is to be implemented as a fee - based system , the expertise manager 18 may include time - monitoring functionality , which monitors the amount of time the user is connected to the expert , and bills the user for such time , or the user may be billed on a fixed - fee basis . with either billing method , the user will be queried to provide the expertise manager 18 with a method of payment . such payment methods can include credit card information , debit card information , billing address information , store account information , or any other suitable proprietary or nonproprietary payment method . by using the provider - based system of the present invention , the user saves money by not having to pay for an in - home visit . additionally , the time spent resolving an issue may also be tremendously reduced by the user not having to wait for an expert to travel to the user location to troubleshoot and resolve the problem . also , the user may be empowered to undertake other projects and return to the particular provider 16 for the components to complete such projects , based on the satisfactory use of the knowledge - based connection system of the present invention . fig3 is a schematic block diagram of a knowledge - based connection system 10 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention . the connection system 10 is referred to as a market broker or participant - based system because it provides for a connection between a user ( at a particular remote location ) 12 and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 that are independent from each other . this differs from the personal knowledge - based system illustrated in fig1 , in that , the experts that the user or layperson are connected to , are not affiliated with the same entity . as illustrated in fig3 , the connection system 30 includes a market broker manager 40 , operative to provide a real - time connection between the user or layperson , at a remote location 12 , and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 , based on the layperson &# 39 ; s particular situation , and a metering block 42 operative to , for example , monitor the amount of time the layperson spends connected to a particular one of the plurality of experts . the experts may be present at locations remote from one another , or they may be present in the same location ( as illustrated by the dashed outline ). in addition to monitoring connection time , the metering block 42 may also be configured to calculate any charges as part of a fee - based service , and receive and process payment information such as , for example , credit card information , debit card information , or any proprietary payment information . other services or processes that may be performed by the metering block 42 include searching , providing security over the information transferred or payment information , and / or providing quality assurance benefits to the user . it should also be noted that connecting to an expert may be provided as a free service by a host . the market broker manager 40 will now be described with reference to fig4 . as illustrated in fig4 , the market broker manager 40 includes a personal services manager 42 who is operative to receive an oral description of the problem the user ( e . g ., the layperson ) is trying to resolve and / or real - time video illustrating the problem the user is trying to resolve and providing a link between the user and an appropriate expert 60 on - line 62 based on the received information . a speech engine 44 is coupled to the personal services manager 42 , and is operative to perform speech recognition such that the speech engine converts the voice and any corresponding oral commands of the user into appropriate digital signals for further use and transmission by the personal services manager 42 . in an exemplary embodiment , speech recognition is performed by an engine such as ibm viavoice . the speech engine 44 also performs text - to - speech synthesis , where digital signals are converted into audible sounds ( e . g ., words ) that the user can understand . in the embodiment , the text - to - speech synthesis is performed by the at & amp ; t natural voices engine . however , any suitable text - to - speech engine can be used without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention . a web services api 46 couples a uddi registry 48 to the personal services manager 42 . the uddi registry 48 , in one embodiment , is configured as a database that maintains a searchable list of experts in myriad fields . the expert list includes information relating to each of the experts maintained in the uddi registry including , for example , the connection capabilities of the expert , the location of the expert , an indication of whether the expert is available for consultation , the technical blueprints ( or t - models ), which explain how , programmatically , to bind and invoke an expert service and any fees charged by the expert , to name just a few . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned list of expert information is not exhaustive and any appropriate information relating to the experts that falls within the may be maintained in the personal services manager and falls within the spirit and scope of the present invention . in addition , the experts may be business or commercial entities , as well as individual persons . if the selected expert is a business entity , such entity may , for example , implement a connection system similar to that described with reference to fig1 and 2 in order to connect the use with an individual expert who can answer an user question . searching of the uddi registry 48 is performed , for example , using the xml / soap - based query patterns and protocols , as specified in the uddi 2 . 0 api specification . a user database 45 is also coupled to the personal services manager 42 and is operative to store user preferences relating to , for example , the maximum amount of fees to be paid for advice or services , preferred location and experience level of experts , billing information and any technical information pertinent to the environment of the user . although , the speech engine 44 , user database 45 , api 46 and uddi registry 48 are described as being separate components , it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned components can be integrated within the personal services manager 42 , and such a configuration is contemplated by and falls within the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the market broker manager 40 illustrated in fig4 can be implemented as a processor 41 connected to and operating according to instructions that are maintained within a memory 41 . also , it should be noted and appreciated that the expertise manager 18 can be implemented in similar fashion to the personal services manger 42 described above . referring back to fig3 , the user location 12 is connected to the market broker manager 40 via communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig3 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link 15 can also be provided by a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or appropriate land - line and wireless networks . the user location 12 also includes sensors 14 , which may also include , temperature sensors , humidity sensors or a digital camera 30 equipped with a lighting element that is adapted to wirelessly transmit video images over the communication link . a wireless microphone ( not shown ) or any other means for transmitting voice data over the communication link 15 may also be coupled to or provided within the user location . market broker system operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig5 . referring now to fig5 , the method begins at step 200 with the user or layperson connecting to the market broker manager and providing an oral request for expert assistance . in this step , the oral query ( e . g ., “ i need help connecting a phone jack to the wall ”) is received by the viavoice engine and converted into digital signals for use by the personal services manager 42 . the process then proceeds to step 202 . in step 202 , a keyword determination ( e . g ., “ phone ” “ jack ” and “ connection ”) is generated by the personal services manger 42 , based on the oral request , and the keyword ( s ) from the request are provided to the user for modification or confirmation by the text - to - speech engine . next , in step 203 , a determination is made as to whether a modification to any determined keywords is necessary . if a modification is necessary , or the layperson wants to modify the request , the process moves back to step 202 where the layperson modifies the request and the modified request is received by the personal services manager . on the other hand , if modifications are not necessary , the process moves to step 204 . in step 204 , the personal services manager 42 generates an xml / soap query pattern based on the keywords and searches the uddi registry 48 for at least one expert that meets the layperson requirements in step 205 . if no match is found , the process moves back to step 202 , where the personal service manager 42 requests the layperson for a new query ( e . g ., “ your query resulted in no matches , please make another request ”) via the text - to - speech engine . after the new query is received , the keyword ( s ) are modified and a new search is conducted . if a match is found in step 205 , the process moves to step 206 . in step 206 , the personal services manager 42 provides the layperson with a list of expert matches ( e . g ., “ john smith , smith electric ,” “ home depot ,” “ alexander jones ”), along with any contact and t - model information , through the text - to - speech engine and waits for the layperson to select an expert in step 207 . once a selection is made ( e . g ., “ john smith ”) and the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert matches , the voice and video information , if any , of the layperson environment ( e . g ., the outlet where the phone jack is to be connected ) is simultaneously transmitted to the selected expert via communication link 15 in step 208 . in this manner , the expert is provided with a real - time image of the phone jack and where it is to be connected and can provide the layperson with step - by - step instructions on how to connect the phone jack with the actual layperson environment as the model . if the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert does not match , the layperson will be alerted of the mismatch and be asked to enter a new selection ( e . g ., “ connection not possible at this time , please make another selection ”). in fee - based embodiments , the metering block 42 requests the user or layperson to enter the method of payment ( e . g ., credit card , debit card , etc .) and then keeps track of the amount of time the user is connected to the expert and calculates a bill based on the connection time . alternately , in fixed - fee based services , the user is charged once connection is made to the expert . in step 208 , the personal services manager determines whether the session has been terminated . if the session is complete , the process moves to step 210 where the connection between the layperson and the expert is terminated ( e . g ., “ connection to john smith terminated ”). the above detailed description of the present invention and the examples described therein have been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the precise embodiments disclosed , and that various changes and modifications to the invention are possible , in light of the above teaching . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Electricity'? | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 4855560f9fe20fa230f028059a82d4789d2cd86e09a6362f142100da58a48041 | 0.010986 | 0.014038 | 0.000828 | 0.000938 | 0.001984 | 0.018799 |
null | an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 - 5 . referring to fig1 , illustrated therein is a schematic block diagram of a personal knowledge - based connection system 10 according to the present invention . the system is referred to as a personal knowledge - based system because it provides a connection between a user &# 39 ; s ( or layperson &# 39 ; s ) location 12 and that of a specific provider 16 . examples of a specific provider are circuit city , home depot , ace hardware or any entity that provides consumer goods . alternatively , the knowledge - based connection and information transfer system of the present invention can be implemented as a kiosk ( or other stand - alone location ) within a specific provider . this differs from the market broker knowledge - based system that will be described in greater detail with respect to fig3 - 5 . as shown , the personal - based connection system 10 includes a user location 12 , which is connected to a specific provider through a communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link can also be performed over a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or any suitable land - line and / or wireless network . sensor 14 , such as , for example , temperature sensors , humidity sensors , light sensors or any other suitable ( wireless or wire - line ) sensing device may be used to detect the user &# 39 ; s environment and transmit information related thereto to the provider 16 . a camera , preferably a digital camera having wireless transmission capabilities 30 , equipped with an illuminating mechanism ( e . g ., a light ) 31 may be used to provide a visual image of the user &# 39 ; s environment ( or problem to resolve ) within the user location 12 and transmit such visual image to the provider 16 over the communication link 15 . a wireless microphone 32 or appropriate transceiver may be used to provide verbal information transfer between the user and the expert , either alone , or simultaneously with the visual image of the user environment over the communication link 15 . in an exemplary embodiment , the voice and / or image information is transmitted to the communication link 15 through a suitable application 13 that is running within or about location 12 . in this fashion , the user is able to move about the particular location 12 , and is not restricted to any specific or otherwise limited area . the provider 16 includes an expertise manager 18 , which in an exemplary embodiment may act as a searchable database utilizing a processor 19 and a memory 19 , which maintains a directory of available experts ( e 1 , e 2 , e 3 ) 20 - 24 , respectively , that are available to receive the information regarding the user environment and provide advice on how to resolve any user issues or other troubleshooting problems . the expertise manager 18 may be equipped with a voice recognition engine for converting the user &# 39 ; s oral requests and / or questions into a digital format that is more suited for transmission over the communication link 15 . the expertise manager 18 may also be equipped with a second ( i . e ., text - to - speech ) engine for providing a means for the experts to communicate directly with the user . it will be appreciated and recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that the voice recognition engine and / or the text - to - speech engine can be part of application 13 maintained at the user location 12 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the experts 20 - 24 are associated with the provider 16 of the service . thus , using an electronics store as an example , each of the experts 20 - 24 are employees or contractors of the electronic store provider . however , it should be noted that the employees are not limited to reside within a particular location . for example , experts 20 and 22 may reside in one location , while expert 24 resides in another location . accordingly , if expert 24 is the most appropriate individual to answer the user request , expert 24 will be connected to and communicate with the user . the operation of the system illustrated in fig1 will now be described with reference to fig2 . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating the operating steps performed by the knowledge - based connection system shown in fig1 . the process begins at step 100 with the user or layperson connecting to the provider 16 by orally requesting assistance for a particular problem . the request is received by the voice recognition engine of the expertise manager 18 through communication link 15 , as shown in fig1 . next , the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to communicate the general nature of the problem and the parameters of the problem ( e . g ., context within which the problem exists ). such information is received in step 102 . the process then moves to step 104 . in step 104 , the expertise manager 18 searches the database of provider employees and contractors and provides the layperson with a list of available experts 20 - 24 ( shown in fig1 ), based on the information provided by the user via the text - to - speech engine . the layperson then reviews the list and selects one of the available experts to be connected to . the process then proceeds to step 105 . in step 105 , a determination is made as to whether the selected expert is available for a consultation . if the selected expert is not available , the process moves back to step 104 where the expertise manager 18 requests the layperson to make another selection . on the other hand , if the selected expert is available , the process moves to step 106 . in step 106 , the layperson &# 39 ; s request and operating environment is transferred to the expert for review . while connected to the expert , the layperson can discuss the problem with the expert , provide the expert with a real - time image of the problem context by transmitting the image through the use of a wireless camera or a simultaneous transmission of both image and voice information . alternately , the layperson can be connected to the expert through a direct communication link 17 . the session can be terminated by either the layperson or the expert once the layperson &# 39 ; s questions have been satisfactorily answered or the issues adequately resolved . the aforementioned provider - based system can be implemented as a fee - based system or a free system depending on the interests or objectives of the provider . if the provider - based system is to be implemented as a fee - based system , the expertise manager 18 may include time - monitoring functionality , which monitors the amount of time the user is connected to the expert , and bills the user for such time , or the user may be billed on a fixed - fee basis . with either billing method , the user will be queried to provide the expertise manager 18 with a method of payment . such payment methods can include credit card information , debit card information , billing address information , store account information , or any other suitable proprietary or nonproprietary payment method . by using the provider - based system of the present invention , the user saves money by not having to pay for an in - home visit . additionally , the time spent resolving an issue may also be tremendously reduced by the user not having to wait for an expert to travel to the user location to troubleshoot and resolve the problem . also , the user may be empowered to undertake other projects and return to the particular provider 16 for the components to complete such projects , based on the satisfactory use of the knowledge - based connection system of the present invention . fig3 is a schematic block diagram of a knowledge - based connection system 10 according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention . the connection system 10 is referred to as a market broker or participant - based system because it provides for a connection between a user ( at a particular remote location ) 12 and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 that are independent from each other . this differs from the personal knowledge - based system illustrated in fig1 , in that , the experts that the user or layperson are connected to , are not affiliated with the same entity . as illustrated in fig3 , the connection system 30 includes a market broker manager 40 , operative to provide a real - time connection between the user or layperson , at a remote location 12 , and one of a plurality of experts 44 - 48 , based on the layperson &# 39 ; s particular situation , and a metering block 42 operative to , for example , monitor the amount of time the layperson spends connected to a particular one of the plurality of experts . the experts may be present at locations remote from one another , or they may be present in the same location ( as illustrated by the dashed outline ). in addition to monitoring connection time , the metering block 42 may also be configured to calculate any charges as part of a fee - based service , and receive and process payment information such as , for example , credit card information , debit card information , or any proprietary payment information . other services or processes that may be performed by the metering block 42 include searching , providing security over the information transferred or payment information , and / or providing quality assurance benefits to the user . it should also be noted that connecting to an expert may be provided as a free service by a host . the market broker manager 40 will now be described with reference to fig4 . as illustrated in fig4 , the market broker manager 40 includes a personal services manager 42 who is operative to receive an oral description of the problem the user ( e . g ., the layperson ) is trying to resolve and / or real - time video illustrating the problem the user is trying to resolve and providing a link between the user and an appropriate expert 60 on - line 62 based on the received information . a speech engine 44 is coupled to the personal services manager 42 , and is operative to perform speech recognition such that the speech engine converts the voice and any corresponding oral commands of the user into appropriate digital signals for further use and transmission by the personal services manager 42 . in an exemplary embodiment , speech recognition is performed by an engine such as ibm viavoice . the speech engine 44 also performs text - to - speech synthesis , where digital signals are converted into audible sounds ( e . g ., words ) that the user can understand . in the embodiment , the text - to - speech synthesis is performed by the at & amp ; t natural voices engine . however , any suitable text - to - speech engine can be used without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention . a web services api 46 couples a uddi registry 48 to the personal services manager 42 . the uddi registry 48 , in one embodiment , is configured as a database that maintains a searchable list of experts in myriad fields . the expert list includes information relating to each of the experts maintained in the uddi registry including , for example , the connection capabilities of the expert , the location of the expert , an indication of whether the expert is available for consultation , the technical blueprints ( or t - models ), which explain how , programmatically , to bind and invoke an expert service and any fees charged by the expert , to name just a few . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned list of expert information is not exhaustive and any appropriate information relating to the experts that falls within the may be maintained in the personal services manager and falls within the spirit and scope of the present invention . in addition , the experts may be business or commercial entities , as well as individual persons . if the selected expert is a business entity , such entity may , for example , implement a connection system similar to that described with reference to fig1 and 2 in order to connect the use with an individual expert who can answer an user question . searching of the uddi registry 48 is performed , for example , using the xml / soap - based query patterns and protocols , as specified in the uddi 2 . 0 api specification . a user database 45 is also coupled to the personal services manager 42 and is operative to store user preferences relating to , for example , the maximum amount of fees to be paid for advice or services , preferred location and experience level of experts , billing information and any technical information pertinent to the environment of the user . although , the speech engine 44 , user database 45 , api 46 and uddi registry 48 are described as being separate components , it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the aforementioned components can be integrated within the personal services manager 42 , and such a configuration is contemplated by and falls within the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the market broker manager 40 illustrated in fig4 can be implemented as a processor 41 connected to and operating according to instructions that are maintained within a memory 41 . also , it should be noted and appreciated that the expertise manager 18 can be implemented in similar fashion to the personal services manger 42 described above . referring back to fig3 , the user location 12 is connected to the market broker manager 40 via communication link 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig3 , the communication link 15 is provided by the internet . however , it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the communication link 15 can also be provided by a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), or appropriate land - line and wireless networks . the user location 12 also includes sensors 14 , which may also include , temperature sensors , humidity sensors or a digital camera 30 equipped with a lighting element that is adapted to wirelessly transmit video images over the communication link . a wireless microphone ( not shown ) or any other means for transmitting voice data over the communication link 15 may also be coupled to or provided within the user location . market broker system operation of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig5 . referring now to fig5 , the method begins at step 200 with the user or layperson connecting to the market broker manager and providing an oral request for expert assistance . in this step , the oral query ( e . g ., “ i need help connecting a phone jack to the wall ”) is received by the viavoice engine and converted into digital signals for use by the personal services manager 42 . the process then proceeds to step 202 . in step 202 , a keyword determination ( e . g ., “ phone ” “ jack ” and “ connection ”) is generated by the personal services manger 42 , based on the oral request , and the keyword ( s ) from the request are provided to the user for modification or confirmation by the text - to - speech engine . next , in step 203 , a determination is made as to whether a modification to any determined keywords is necessary . if a modification is necessary , or the layperson wants to modify the request , the process moves back to step 202 where the layperson modifies the request and the modified request is received by the personal services manager . on the other hand , if modifications are not necessary , the process moves to step 204 . in step 204 , the personal services manager 42 generates an xml / soap query pattern based on the keywords and searches the uddi registry 48 for at least one expert that meets the layperson requirements in step 205 . if no match is found , the process moves back to step 202 , where the personal service manager 42 requests the layperson for a new query ( e . g ., “ your query resulted in no matches , please make another request ”) via the text - to - speech engine . after the new query is received , the keyword ( s ) are modified and a new search is conducted . if a match is found in step 205 , the process moves to step 206 . in step 206 , the personal services manager 42 provides the layperson with a list of expert matches ( e . g ., “ john smith , smith electric ,” “ home depot ,” “ alexander jones ”), along with any contact and t - model information , through the text - to - speech engine and waits for the layperson to select an expert in step 207 . once a selection is made ( e . g ., “ john smith ”) and the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert matches , the voice and video information , if any , of the layperson environment ( e . g ., the outlet where the phone jack is to be connected ) is simultaneously transmitted to the selected expert via communication link 15 in step 208 . in this manner , the expert is provided with a real - time image of the phone jack and where it is to be connected and can provide the layperson with step - by - step instructions on how to connect the phone jack with the actual layperson environment as the model . if the t - model information between the layperson location 12 and the expert does not match , the layperson will be alerted of the mismatch and be asked to enter a new selection ( e . g ., “ connection not possible at this time , please make another selection ”). in fee - based embodiments , the metering block 42 requests the user or layperson to enter the method of payment ( e . g ., credit card , debit card , etc .) and then keeps track of the amount of time the user is connected to the expert and calculates a bill based on the connection time . alternately , in fixed - fee based services , the user is charged once connection is made to the expert . in step 208 , the personal services manager determines whether the session has been terminated . if the session is complete , the process moves to step 210 where the connection between the layperson and the expert is terminated ( e . g ., “ connection to john smith terminated ”). the above detailed description of the present invention and the examples described therein have been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . although an exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the precise embodiments disclosed , and that various changes and modifications to the invention are possible , in light of the above teaching . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Electricity'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | 4855560f9fe20fa230f028059a82d4789d2cd86e09a6362f142100da58a48041 | 0.010986 | 0.149414 | 0.000828 | 0.198242 | 0.001984 | 0.112793 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.095215 | 0.000488 | 0.016357 | 0.000003 | 0.064453 | 0.00103 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.072754 | 0.008606 | 0.012024 | 0.003708 | 0.087402 | 0.046631 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.149414 | 0.001167 | 0.128906 | 0.000075 | 0.151367 | 0.001808 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.095215 | 0.001068 | 0.016357 | 0.000158 | 0.064453 | 0.022339 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.09668 | 0.005371 | 0.016357 | 0.000938 | 0.064453 | 0.033203 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.154297 | 0.000587 | 0.128906 | 0.000033 | 0.151367 | 0.005219 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.072754 | 0.291016 | 0.012024 | 0.035645 | 0.087402 | 0.150391 |
null | with reference to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the inventive test circuit 10 is shown in the environment of a dynamic random access memory (&# 34 ; dram &# 34 ;) semiconductor device having a memory cell array 12 and a control logic circuit 14 connected to the data address , and control bus of a device ( not shown ). the test circuit 10 is fabricated on the same substrate on which the integrated circuit is fabricated . the test circuit can be externally enabled to temporarily bias the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage . the test circuit 10 includes an enabling circuit 18 that defines a normal - mode and a test - mode based on complimentary control signals en1 and en1 * that are generated by the control logic circuit 14 . the logic state of the control signals en1 and en1 * are controlled by the control logic circuit 14 decoding either the address bus or the data bus in a conventional manner . when in the normal operating mode , the control signal en1 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the control signal en1 * is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the test circuit 10 also includes a voltage pump system 20 that drives the substrate voltage toward the normal operating voltage , and a regulator circuit 30 that holds the voltage of the substrate at a predetermined test voltage when the test circuit 10 is placed in a test - mode by en1 going high and en1 * going low . in the normal operating mode , the voltage pump system 20 operates intermittently to bias the substrate of the chip at its normal operating voltage . in the test - mode , the voltage pump 20 runs continuously to drive the substrate toward the normal operating voltage . however , the regulator 30 conducts sufficient current to or from the substrate to maintain the substrate at the test voltage which is intermediate ground and the normal operating voltage . one embodiment of the test circuit 10 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . the voltage pump system 20 includes a conventional regulator circuit 50 receiving a v bb signal on input line 52 that is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the regulator circuit 50 has an output line 54 on which a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; is generated whenever the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than a predetermined value , such as 2 volts . when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than a predetermined value , a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal is generated on the output line 54 . in the preferred embodiment , the substrate is biased to a voltage v bb of about - 2 volts so that the output of the regulator circuit 50 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is between 0 and - 2 volts and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; whenever v bb is more negative than about - 2 volts . the output line 54 is connected to one input of a nand gate 60 that receives the en1 * signal at its other input . as mentioned above , the en1 * signal is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; during normal operation of the integrated circuit . thus , during normal operation , an output 62 of the nand gate 60 is a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is smaller than the predetermined value and a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; when the absolute value of the v bb signal is larger than the predetermined value . the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is connected to an enable input 70 of an oscillator 72 of conventional design . the oscillator 72 is enabled whenever it receives a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the enable input 70 . the oscillator 72 then outputs a series of pulses to a conventional voltage pump 76 . as is well known in the art , the voltage pump 76 outputs or draws a current on its output line 78 whenever it receives pulses from the oscillator 72 . the output line 78 is connected to the substrate of the integrated circuit . the voltage pump 76 thus drives the voltage of the substrate toward its normally operating voltage whenever the oscillator 72 is enabled and thus applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the following explanation of the operation of the voltage pump system 20 assumes that the normal operating voltage of the substrate is - 2 volts , although other voltages , either positive or negative , could also be used . when power is initially applied to the integrated circuit , the substrate is a 0 volts . thus , v bb is initially 0 volts , thereby causing the regulator circuit 50 to output a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to the nand gate 60 . since the test circuit 10 is in the normal operation mode , the nand gate 60 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 *. the logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; at the output of the regulator circuit 50 thus causes the nand gate 60 to output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to the oscillator 72 , thereby causing the oscillator 72 to apply pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump then draws current from the substrate , causing v bb to fall toward - 2 volts . when v bb reaches - 2 volts , the output line 54 of the regulator circuit 50 transitions from logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the output 62 of the nand gate 60 to go low . the oscillator 70 is then disabled so that it no longer applies pulses to the voltage pump 76 . the voltage pump 76 then stops drawing current from the substrate so that the voltage v bb does not fall significantly below - 2 volts . the voltage pump 76 continues to operate intermittently in this manner to keep the substrate voltage at about - 2 volts . when the test mode is selected , en1 * goes low and en1 goes high . the low en1 * causes nand gate 60 to continuously output a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby causing the voltage pump 76 to continuously draw current from the substrate regardless of the output from the regulator circuit 50 . under these circumstances , v bb would continue to become more negative after reaching - 2 volts . however , as explained above , with reference to fig1 the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; en1 signal is applied to the enable circuit 18 to cause the regulator 30 to keep v bb from becoming more negative than - 2 volts . the enable circuit 18 includes a nand gate 80 followed by an inverter 82 which together function as an and gate . one input of the nand gate 80 receives the en1 signal while the other input is connected to the output 62 of the nand gate 60 . as explained above , in the test - mode , the output 62 of the nand gate 60 is maintained at a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to continuously enable the oscillator 70 . also , the en1 control signal is high in the test - mode . thus , in the test - mode , the output of the inverter 82 will be high and the oscillator 72 will be enabled any time the test mode is enabled . the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; at the output of the inverter 82 drives the regulator 30 to maintain the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of the substrate , as explained above . the regulator 30 includes a p channel transistor 90 connected in series with an n channel transistor 92 between the substrate and ground . the source , gate , and drain of each of the transistors 90 , 92 is labeled &# 34 ; s &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; g &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; d &# 34 ;, respectively . the gate of the n channel transistor 92 receives the output of the inverter 82 so that the n channel transistor 92 conducts whenever the test circuit 10 is enabled . the source and gate of the p channel transistor 90 are connected to each other so that the transistor 90 acts as a diode that conducts at the trigger voltage of the transistor 90 . in the preferred embodiment , this trigger voltage is about 1 volt . thus , when the n channel transistor 92 is enabled by the logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; from the inverter 82 during the test mode , current flows from ground to the substrate whenever the substrate becomes more negative than about - 1 volt . as a result , all of the current from the voltage pump 76 is shunted to ground after the voltage on the substrate reaches - 1 volt . in this manner , the regulator maintains the voltage of the substrate at a voltage between ground and the normal operating voltage of - 2 volts during the test mode , and allows the voltage pump system 20 to operate in the normal manner when not in the test mode . variations of the preferred embodiment will be apparent to one skilled in the art . for example , the voltage pump 76 may either draw current from or provide current to the substrate to drive the substrate to respective negative or positive voltages . also , the voltage maintained by the regulator 30 during the test mode and by the regulator circuit 50 during normal operation may be varied as desired . other circuit topographies may also be used without departing from the spirit of the invention . for example , it is not absolutely necessary for the nand gate 60 to be controlled by the en1 * signal since the output of the regulator circuit 50 will always be at logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; in the test mode because the regulator 30 will prevent the substrate from ever reaching the normal operating voltage during the test mode . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in this application for illustrative purposes , the claims are not limited to the embodiments described herein . equivalent devices or steps may be substituted for those described , which operate according to principles of the present invention and thus fall within the scope of the claims made . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 8d7117bd53420edeb40075a89dc386d00479bf51de8196911715436bc184c424 | 0.154297 | 0.056641 | 0.128906 | 0.041504 | 0.151367 | 0.154297 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Fixed Constructions'? | Is 'Human Necessities' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.038574 | 0.003479 | 0.041504 | 0.000062 | 0.132813 | 0.003708 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Fixed Constructions'? | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.019165 | 0.027222 | 0.008057 | 0.014038 | 0.036865 | 0.126953 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Fixed Constructions'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.019165 | 0.000231 | 0.008057 | 0.000035 | 0.036865 | 0.001068 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Fixed Constructions'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.039063 | 0.000231 | 0.041504 | 0.000002 | 0.132813 | 0.002716 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Fixed Constructions'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.019165 | 0.002472 | 0.007813 | 0.002396 | 0.036865 | 0.030273 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Fixed Constructions'? | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.039063 | 0.074707 | 0.041504 | 0.025146 | 0.132813 | 0.088867 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Is 'Fixed Constructions' the correct technical category for the patent? | Should this patent be classified under 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.061768 | 0.000058 | 0.013611 | 0.00007 | 0.175781 | 0.000058 |
null | as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims . | Is 'Fixed Constructions' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | 67224c9e727b4d81b7edc074d0452a9e8a311fa457f6b377aa46c9b4f5d397cf | 0.061768 | 0.114258 | 0.013611 | 0.005219 | 0.175781 | 0.081543 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.15918 | 0.121094 | 0.079102 | 0.000504 | 0.140625 | 0.026001 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.21582 | 0.044678 | 0.369141 | 0.024414 | 0.146484 | 0.101074 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Should this patent be classified under 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.162109 | 0.01001 | 0.079102 | 0.001205 | 0.140625 | 0.005554 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is 'Textiles; Paper' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.269531 | 0.001984 | 0.119141 | 0.000109 | 0.302734 | 0.014038 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is 'Fixed Constructions' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.261719 | 0.095215 | 0.53125 | 0.024414 | 0.271484 | 0.143555 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.261719 | 0.005371 | 0.53125 | 0.000626 | 0.261719 | 0.01001 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.21582 | 0.435547 | 0.369141 | 0.009705 | 0.146484 | 0.102539 |
null | fig2 shows a cable of tubes 1 terminating in connector 2 , and second cable of tubes 1 ′ terminating in connector 2 ′. connecting part 3 links the two connectors thereby joining the cables . fig3 illustrates the separated components of the connector , and the connecting part . the connector comprises a first part for receiving and clamping onto a cable of tubes ( comprising gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b ), a spreader 5 , and a connecting part 3 . cable gripping gland 4 clamps onto a cable of tubes 1 ( as shown in fig3 a ). the tubes are then separated by spreader 5 ( as shown in fig3 b ). spreader 5 guides each tube into a channel to align with a particular channel in tube seating body 6 a . the separated tubes then pass through individual channels in tube seating body 6 a . the channels of the tube seating body 6 a decrease in diameter at a point such that a shoulder is formed on which the terminal ends of the tubes sit . tube seating body 6 a and male plug 6 b interface with connecting part 3 . this arrangement ensures that each tube is connected sealingly to the next inline tube via tube seating body 6 a and connecting part 3 . a sealing means 8 is provided between the spreader 5 and tube seating body 6 a , and between male plug 6 b and connecting part 3 . the connecting part 3 links one connector to another , or to a device . the connection is made secure by connector locking ring 7 . once assembled , connector shell 10 houses spreader 5 , sealing means 8 , tube seating body 6 a , male plug 6 b , and sealing means 9 . as illustrated in fig3 a , cable gripping gland 4 comprises gland body 4 a and cable adapter 4 b . in operation , gland body 4 a is pushed over cable of tubes 1 , cable adapter 4 b is pushed over the exposed tubes 1 a and onto the sheath up to cable sheath butt 11 , gland body 4 a is then moved over cable adapter 4 b until a tight fit is achieved . a significant advantage provided by the design of cable gripping gland 4 is that the greater the pulling force on cable of tubes 1 in a direction towards cable adapter 4 b , the tighter the grip between cable adapter 4 b and cable of tubes 1 ( up to a point of failure ). the spreader 5 is shown in greater detail in fig3 b . this figure illustrates a three part spreader to be used for a thirty - one tube cable comprising four layers of tubes . one tube of each layer is illustrated in the figure ( tube 15 for the outer tube layer , tube 16 for the intermediate tube layer , tube 17 for the inner tube layer , and single tube 18 central to cable 1 constituting the central layer ). each of the spreader parts is provided with guideways to urge each tube towards a particular hole . as illustrated by fig3 b , the guideways are formed by a number of continuous walls provided on the spreader , the space between two walls defining a channel slightly wider than an individual tube . once the sheath of cable 1 has been stripped to reveal individual tubes , outer spreader part 5 a is inserted between the outer tube layer 15 and intermediate tube layer 16 . the twelve individual tubes of the outer layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in outer spreader part 5 a . outer spreader part 5 a is pushed down the tubes to a set distance from the multi - tube cable sheath butt 11 . a keyway 12 can be provided to align outer spreader part 5 a with gland body 4 a if necessary . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then inserted between intermediate tube layer 16 and inner tube layer 17 . the twelve individual tubes of the intermediate layer are guided along the guideways into the twelve equidistant holes in the intermediate spreader part 5 b . intermediate spreader part 5 b is then pushed down the tubes and into outer spreader part 5 a . a keyway 13 is provided for alignment of intermediate spreader part 5 b into outer spreader part 5 a . central tube 18 of the multi - tube cable is then inserted into the hole at the centre of inner spreader part 5 c . the six individual tubes of the inner layer are guided along the guideways into the remaining six equidistant holes in inner spreader part 5 c . inner spreader part 5 c is then pushed down the tubes and into intermediate spreader part 5 b . a keyway 14 is provided for alignment of inner spreader part 5 c into intermediate spreader part 5 b . the stepping of the insertion of tubes allows for easier insertion as compared with the alignment device of fig1 . the alignment device requires all tubes to be entered simultaneously , whereas the spreader allows for the tubes to be entered layer by layer . if required , the spreader can be used to enable improved gas blocking . the tubes are presented such that when a gas blocking material is inserted , it is able to spread evenly through the tube interstices to ensure an effective gas block . although the example in fig3 b comprises three spreader parts , the number of spreader parts required would depend upon the number of tube layers , which would be determined by the tube count of the cable . different sizes of spreader , providing different degrees of splaying , could be used dependant upon the use required . for example , if the spreader is required to be used only as a gas block , a smaller size , which fits into the gland body , could be used ( as illustrated in figs . b 6 a - c of the second embodiment , discussed below ). however , if the spreader is to connect with a patch tube interface , a greater degree of splaying , and therefore a larger spreader , may be required . fig4 shows the route of a single tube through the system . cable gripping gland 4 and spreader 5 are formed such that all tubes except the central tube assume an ‘ s ’ bend , which ensures that the end of a tube is parallel to the same tube when in the bundle clamped by cable gripping gland 4 . fig4 a provides a formulaic representation of shape required to be formed by the tube to allow an optical fibre to be installed by the blown fibre method . the formula provides the displacement of the tube from its original position , and the subsequent distance between the beginning and end of the bend in the connector , using the centre line of the tube as a reference point . it may be possible for substitution of the connecting part 3 for to occur after installation of the tubes and prior to blown installation of the fibre . the connecting part 3 may also be formed in a particular configuration to provide a certain function , such as a spacer . fig5 shows the connector part formed into an elbow , and illustrates the path of a single tube through the connector . this configuration can be used when it is necessary to change the direction of the optical fibre cables , for example , to turn a corner . to prevent tube kink or tube collapse , a minimum bend radius must be maintained for multi - tube cables on changing direction . the minimum bend radius for multi - tube cables is approximately ten times the diameter of the cable , e . g . a multi - tube cable comprising seven 5 mm tubes and having an overall diameter of 20 mm should not be subjected to a bend of less than 200 mm . however , by stripping the sheath from the cable and essentially treating each single 5 mm tube as a separate entity , the minimum bend radius is reduced to 50 mm . the elbow contains pre - configured routes for the tubes at the correct radii , and provides a patch tube interface which allows a fibre optic multi - tube gland and multi - tube cable to be connected to either end . therefore the space required to achieve the 90 ° bend is reduced compared with bending the cable as a whole . the gland system will now be described in accordance with the accompanying figs . b 1 to b 10 . fig . b 1 shows a cable of tubes 1 connected with single tubes 19 via fibre multi - tube gland system 20 . as illustrated , bare tubes are exposed between the component parts of the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated in figs . b 2 and b 3 , the optical fibre multi - tube gland system comprises cable gripping gland 4 , enclosure interface 21 , spreader 5 , and patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( the cable gripping gland and spreader are of the same type disclosed above for the first embodiment .) cable 1 is split into individual tubes within cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 , with sealing means 8 provided between cable gripping gland 4 and enclosure interface 21 . the tubes are splayed by spreader 5 and then pass through patch tube interface assembly 22 . the connection is completed by tubes 19 which are connecting patch tubes , or tubes from a second optical fibre multi - tube gland system . the cross section a - a of fig . b 4 shows the route of a single tube through the optical fibre multi - tube gland system . as illustrated , the enclosure interface 21 and spreader 5 act so as to form an ‘ s ’ bend in the tubes , as described for the first embodiment . fig . b 5 provides detail of patch tube interface assembly 22 . deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 are provided at one interface and conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at the second interface . ‘ v ’ rings 23 allow relatively easy manual insertion of multiple individual tubes simultaneously into patch tube interface assembly 22 . ( due to the force required to introduce a tube into an ‘ o ’ ring , manual simultaneous insertion of multiple tubes would be difficult without the use of a specialist tool .) after insertion of the tubes into the patch tube interface assembly 22 , screw cap 25 is tightened to compress each of the ‘ v ’ rings 23 onto the individual tubes to form a seal . conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 are used to form a seal around the individual tubes on the second interface . the action of tightening screw cap 25 also ensures that the ends of the tubes remain butted against the main body of patch tube interface assembly 22 by forcing collets 26 away from patch tube interface assembly 22 thereby stopping movement of the individual tubes . fig . b 5 shows patch tube interface assembly 22 in both an open position , i . e . when the ‘ v ’ rings 23 are in a relaxed state , and a closed position , i . e . after the screw cap 25 has been tightened . collets 26 may be fitted with coloured ‘ c ’ clips to provide a colour key for alignment of tubes . fig . b 5 a shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with deformable ‘ v ’ rings 23 at both interfaces , thus allowing for simultaneous manual insertion of multiple tube inputs or single tube inputs ( e . g . one tube at a time ) from both directions prior to tightening screw cap 25 . figure c shows a patch tube interface assembly 22 with conventional ‘ o ’ rings 24 at both interfaces . the functionality of screw cap 25 of figs . b 5 and b 5 a may not be required for this version . the choice of configuration of seal types ( i . e . as in fig . b 5 a or b 5 b or a combination thereof ) would be determined by the intended purpose which the patch tube interface assembly . fig . b 6 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used to terminate a multi - tube cable at an interface 27 using gland body 4 a , cable adapter 4 b , spreader 5 . interface 27 could be , for example , a bulkhead , an enclosure , or a metal plate . spreader 5 splays the tubes in the same way as the spreader in fig3 b of the first embodiment , thus enabling gas blocking material to be inserted around the interstices . in this embodiment , the spreader is small enough to fit into gland body 4 a such that a gas blocking material 28 , such as resin , can be inserted so as to cover the spreader , as illustrated in figs . b 6 b and b 6 c . as illustrated in figs . b 7 to b 10 , the system may also include a chassis for supporting a plurality of system components , allowing the termination of a plurality of multi - tube cables without the need to remove the original multi - tube cables from the chassis , thereby protecting any ‘ live ’ path between the multi - tube cables . the ability to fully remove the enclosure from the chassis allows access to the tubes between the multi - tube cables , without taking valuable space when closed . fig . b 7 shows the optical fibre multi - tube gland system being used as a simple in - line join between two multi - tube cables , 1 and 1 ′. this join would provide limited opportunity for future upgrade or tube reconfiguration . a chassis 29 , of for example a metallic material , is used to support the components . the optical fibre multi - tube gland system 20 of fig . b 7 uses the individual tubes from the second multi - tube cable 1 ′ to complete the connection . once configuration is complete a two - part enclosure 30 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) is provided to protect the components . simple removal of the two - part enclosure 30 allows access to the individual tubes . fig . b 8 shows an in - line joint which has been further enhanced to provide an easily upgradeable and reconfigurable multi - tube cable joint by using a pair of optical fibre multi - tube gland systems 20 and 20 ′, and patch tube interface assemblies 22 and 22 ′. this allows reconfigurable single patch tubes to be used to form the path between the two multi - tube cables . the components are supported by chassis 29 , and enclosed by two - part enclosure 30 . the original two - part enclosure can be replaced with different versions designed to accept the additional multi - tube cables . fig . b 9 shows an in - line joint upgraded to a t configuration . once the two - parts of the enclosure have been removed to gain access to the joint , the components remaining fixed to the chassis , it is possible to adapt the joint to a different configuration . once a chassis extension piece 31 is added to the existing chassis 29 , a further optical fibre multi - tube gland system using a further patch tube interface assembly can be added to the chassis extension piece 31 . the required empty patch tubes ( prior to optical fibre installation ) can now be removed and re - routed to the new multi - tube cable . fig . b 10 a is an example of the tube routing for a t configuration , with a two - part ‘ t ’ enclosure 32 ( illustrated by a dotted line ) provided to protect the contents of the joint . figs . b 10 b and b 10 c illustrate tube routing for a joints with three and four multi - tube cables respectively , creating ‘ y ’ and ‘ h ’ configurations . in each case , an in - line joint has been reconfigured to accept further multi - tube cables by the addition of chassis extension 31 and appropriate alternative two - part enclosures ( 33 and 34 respectively , illustrated by dotted lines ). the combination of chassis and enclosure allows 360 ° access to the joint when required . as the enclosure is close - fitting , it will take up less space than previous multi - tube joint enclosures . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | a39583771cbca8324b0c2c6da3d38354b78103d8fc0b6f281ef724d95cbc2ac5 | 0.21582 | 0.255859 | 0.369141 | 0.143555 | 0.146484 | 0.164063 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.048096 | 0.068359 | 0.026367 | 0.000912 | 0.055908 | 0.009155 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.025146 | 0.063477 | 0.002319 | 0.012817 | 0.043457 | 0.026733 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.025146 | 0.01001 | 0.002319 | 0.000296 | 0.043457 | 0.002884 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is 'Textiles; Paper' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.051025 | 0.000732 | 0.026367 | 0.000013 | 0.055908 | 0.002182 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.031738 | 0.007813 | 0.006104 | 0.004608 | 0.038574 | 0.018311 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.025146 | 0.002975 | 0.002319 | 0.000572 | 0.043457 | 0.012024 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.031738 | 0.10498 | 0.006104 | 0.006683 | 0.035156 | 0.020386 |
null | in the description which follows , any reference to either orientation or direction is intended primarily for the purpose of illustration and is not intended in any way as a limitation of the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 a chest drainage device 10 is illustrated with three chambers -- a collection chamber 12 for retaining and storing fluids collected from a body cavity , a water seal chamber 14 for preventing any fluid from entering into the collection chamber 12 during high levels of negative pressure in the body cavity and a dry suction control chamber 16 . the function and operation of these various chambers are generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 363 , 626 ; 3 , 363 , 627 ; 3 , 559 , 647 ; 3 , 683 , 913 ; 3 , 782 , 497 ; 4 , 258 , 824 ; and re . 29 , 877 to the extent that like or common elements are presented therein . in addition , the purpose and general operation of the various chambers of the chest drainage device 10 of the present invention are also more fully described in the deknatel inc . pleur - evac ® publication entitled &# 34 ; understanding chest drainage systems &# 34 ; ( 1985 ) which is incorporated herein in its entirety . accordingly , the disclosure of the aforementioned patents and publication are incorporated herein in their entirety . as shown in fig1 the drainage device 10 is generally formed of a housing that includes a front wall 18 secured to a back wall 20 as shown in fig2 by means of four side walls which include a top wall 22 , right side wall 24 , left side wall 26 and bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing can be formed integrally with all the walls formed along their peripheries or , alternatively the separate side walls and front and back walls can be secured to one another by means well known to those skilled in the art concerning securement or attachment procedures . in order to permit viewing of the contents of the collection chamber , the front wall 18 as shown in fig1 is at least transparent at certain portions thereof which overlay the heights of the various collection compartments 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 . also , the heights are calibrated with graduations 130 which indicate the amount of fluid collected therein . the smaller volumetric size of the first collection compartment 28 permits finer measurements , for example , from 0 - 200 cc of fluid while the other compartments accommodate still larger volumetric amounts . in this manner , the medical personnel can readily evaluate the performance of the chest drainage device 10 as the amount of fluid collected over time and during a complete fluid evacuation procedure by a single reading of the height of the fluid in the most recently filled collection compartment . other portions of front wall 18 are also transparent to permit the viewing of other operational features of the device 10 . in this respect , the small arm compartment 38 of the seal chamber 14 is transparent in order to permit a viewing of the height of the fluid contained within the seal chamber 14 . accordingly , the length of the small arm compartment 38 is also calibrated with gradations 40 in order to permit measurement of the height of the fluid therein . similarly an airflow meter 48 of the type illustrated and described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 683 , 913 has a transparent portion 42 which permits viewing of any air bubbles passing therethrough . grommets 44 and 46 include a central rubber portion 48 which permit injection of fluid by means of a hypodermic needle which will penetrate but not do damage the rubber seal which thereafter seals and retains the integrity of the respective chambers or portions thereof . the suction control chamber 16 includes a compartment 50 which is partially viewable through a respective transparent portion in wall 18 . in order to permit visual determination of the proper level of suction setting desired , a control disk 52 is viewable through transparent portion 54 in wall 18 which indicates readily the degree of suction which is selected by means of movement of lever arm 56 extending through opening 58 of left side wall 26 . an inlet port 60 is positioned in top wall 38 so that fluid and gases from a body cavity pass directly into collection compartment 12 through tubing 62 . a high negativity valve 62 is positioned in top wall 22 in communication with collection chamber 12 . the high negativity valve includes a button actuated valve which when depressed allows filtered air to enter the collection chamber 12 . in this manner , undesired high degrees of negative pressure that may occur in the body cavity and thereby develop in the collection chamber 12 are relieved . as shown in fig1 the device 10 is coupled to a suction source by means of a suitable tubing 64 that is connected over the suction inlet 66 . as shown in fig3 the hanger device 68 according to the present invention includes a bracket member 70 which is formed of two opposed walls 72 and 74 which have between them a post member 75 extending between walls . as shown in fig3 one of the walls 72 is positioned or attached onto side wall 24 of drainage device 10 . as shown more clearly in fig1 the opposed walls 72 and 74 are joined together in common side wall 76 whose function will be more clearly explained hereinbelow . the hanger device 68 also includes a hook member 78 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends . at its upper end , the wire 78 has a greater curve so as to accommodate the larger diameter of a bedpost , for example 80 . at the lower curved end , the wire 78 is hooked so as to permit the small curved end to be positioned about post member 75 . the small curved end has a smallest distance of separation indicated by letter a which is less than the diameter of post member 75 . the smaller curved end of wire 78 is resilient so that when the hook member is selectively rotated to the hanging position as shown in fig3 the hooked small curved end can be moved away from post member 75 which is then securely advanced toward the smallest distance separation &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; whereupon the hooked end resiliently spreads apart so as to lock the hook member in the hanging position . when the hanger member is not needed to support the housing , the wire 78 can be moved so as to pull the post member 75 out of the smallest distance or separation which thereupon resiliently snaps back to its former distance of separation and thus retains the hook member about the post member 75 . thereafter , the hook member can be rotated downwardly and the wire 78 passed over and retained against a retention shoulder 78 positioned below the bracket 70 as shown in fig3 . notably , the hooked end can rotate about post member 75 but is at all times retained thereabout since the common side wall 76 prevents the hooked end from separating from the post member 75 . alternatively , if common side wall 76 is not provided , the front wall 18 extends about the side walls in the manner as shown in fig3 sufficiently so that if the hooked end advances past the post member 75 , it will eventually engage the extended post of the front wall 18 and will not be permitted to move any farther . this once again retains the hook member relatively to the bracket member 70 . referring to fig4 an alternative embodiment of the hanger device 68 according to the present invention is shown . in this alternative embodiment , a bracket member 80 includes a wall 82 which has extending therefrom a post member 84 that is attached at its other end to the side wall 24 of the housing . the wall 82 extends to the front wall 18 as shown specifically fig4 . the hanger device 80 also includes a hook member 86 which is formed of a wire that is curved at both ends as is the case with hook member 78 . similarly , the purposes of the hooked ends of or curved ends of hook member 86 are similar to those described previously in connection with hook member 78 . however , the hook member 86 has a portion 88 which is bent so that when the hook member 86 is rotated from a stored position shown by dotted phantom lines 90 up through and to the stored position as shown by the solid lines of hook member 86 in an upright position , the bent portion 88 can rest upon the upper wall portion of wall 92 when the hook member 86 is then pressed downwardly so as to spread apart the curved end of hook member 86 about post as shown in fig4 a member 84 in the manner as described before with respect to hook member 78 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig4 there is included a hook bracket 94 which receives a wire frame 96 as shown therein . specifically , the wire frame is as shown generally in fig5 that includes an eye portion 98 that hooks and secures about a lower leg 100 of device or housing or front wall 18 . the wire frame 96 supports a bag 102 which is of the type employed in automatic transfusion devices a described and illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 443 , 220 , which is incorporated herein in its entirety . the autotransfusion device includes tube 104 that is connected to the patient &# 39 ; s cavity to be drained of fluids and also a tube which is coupled to an inlet 62 of drainage device 10 . notably the automatic transfusion device is incorporated so as to be able to return the fluid collected therein to the patient should the need arise before collecting the same within the drainage device 10 . the present invention has been described in detail with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiments thereof . however , it should be understood that variations and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 2c36caffbf62f2c56503d06ddc75e7fa87c68bf25731ade16466bfa35b97d06d | 0.026001 | 0.000626 | 0.002319 | 0.000029 | 0.041504 | 0.000085 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.621094 | 0.012451 | 0.392578 | 0.000881 | 0.527344 | 0.019775 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.3125 | 0.000169 | 0.080566 | 0.000051 | 0.328125 | 0.002808 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | Is 'Textiles; Paper' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.621094 | 0.000315 | 0.392578 | 0.000149 | 0.527344 | 0.002716 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Should this patent be classified under 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.554688 | 0.02124 | 0.353516 | 0.06543 | 0.451172 | 0.07373 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.3125 | 0.000687 | 0.080566 | 0.000296 | 0.328125 | 0.00193 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.3125 | 0.018799 | 0.080566 | 0.002716 | 0.328125 | 0.027588 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.3125 | 0.003601 | 0.080566 | 0.000458 | 0.328125 | 0.000881 |
null | the flowchart in fig1 discloses the main features of the inventive method . the boxes symbolises a source of information , such as a database , memory or sensor , the circles symbolises an event and the arrows symbolises a flow of information . the boxes a , b , c symbolises three different sources of road information data . however , the method starts in the circle d , in which information about the position of the vehicle is collected from the position sensor p , evaluated and selected . the positions sensor p is preferably a gps or corresponding device . when the position of the vehicle is determined , road information data about possible upcoming routes is collected from the road information data sources a , b , c . all road information data comprises at least information about the inclination of the road for the upcoming route . the road information data about a route is preferably divided into portions . wherein one portion comprises information about a road segment including inclination changes of the road . memory space can thereby be saved , since portions of a road without any major changes in inclination can be left out in the road information data . this can be done , because when the road does not have any changes in inclination the vehicle mostly travels in a constant speed , wherein the driveline does not need any prediction of the upcoming route . the method therefore constantly updates the position of the vehicle and collects relevant road information data from the road information sources a , b , c . since the position is constantly updated , the direction of travel for the vehicle will be known , whereby the collection of road information data can be limited to just road information data in the direction of travel of the vehicle . collected road information data that has been evaluated and deemed not be used , are discarded t . the evaluation and selection of the road information data is made based upon a quality rating of the road information data . the quality rating is based on one or several criterions , such as the source a , b , c , of the road information data , elapsed time since recording of the road information data , outcome of the use of a driveline function based on the road information data , etc . for example , if road information data from the local database c is available , this road information data has priority over road information data from the fleet database b and / or the digital map a , wherein the road information data from the fleet database b has priority over road information data from the digital map a . a further example of a possible criterion is the time since the road information data is recorded , wherein the quality rating of the road information data is decreasing with a predefined number for every time unit ( days , months or years ) that has lapsed since the recording . when the most suitable road information data is selected , in the circle d , based on the quality rating , the drive train is controlled , in the circle e , dependent on the selected , road information data . preferably , a cruise control of the vehicle is activated , whereby predefined functions f in the drive train is selected and executed dependent of the topography of the upcoming route . such functions can be : allowing a deviation from the set speed of the cruise control of the vehicle , avoid or postpone a gear shift , and avoid a breaking of the vehicle . when the functions f above and other similar functions are activated the vehicle uses the upcoming route to optimise the performance of the vehicle . the uses of these functions f are dependent of that the road information data is correct . even though the use of the road information data can be greater during an activation of a cruise control , it is not limiting , for the invention . the controlled parameter during manual driving of the vehicle can be torque limitation or activation of a generator or other system in the vehicle , when it is topographically beneficial . as a part of the enhancement process of the invention , when such a function f has been used , an evaluation of the actual outcome of the function is made and compared with an expected outcome of the function f . if , the actual outcome of the function f does not correspond to the expected outcome , the data quality rating of the road information data used is decreased . the outcome can be measured and compared as the function is executed and / or as the function has been executed . a suitable parameter for evaluation of the outcome of the function could be the expected and actual speed of the vehicle in a certain point , for example on the top of a hill . how much the data quality rating is decreased is dependent on the deviation from the expected outcome . thereby , a great deviation between the actual and expected result might have the consequence that another source of road information data is used the next time a selection of road information data is made for the same route . the invention is however not limited to the above briefly and previously known describe functions f , an evaluation of the quality of the road information data can be made with any other function f that is dependent of topographic road information data . if a comparison between an actual value and an expected value is such that a data quality rating is changed thereby , the road data with its new mad data quality rating is saved h . further , during travelling along a route , a recording g of the route is made . the recording becomes its input from the position sensor p and other input sources i , which at least comprises an elevation sensor ( inclination sensor , gps or other suitable devices ), wherein also other parameters can be recorded , such as the sensing form vehicle sensors and external devices , weather and wind sensors etc . the circle h represents an evaluation of the recorded and used road information data . a decision if a recording of road information data of a route should be saved into the local database c or discarded t is made in the circle h . the recoding is saved , if : there are no existing road information data of a route in the local database c , and the recorded road information data does not show any signs of being corrupt , or a used mean value of road information data from the local database c , have generated a deviation greater than a predetermined threshold value , between an actual outcome and an expected outcome of a function f , and / or the recorded road information data deviates less than a predetermined threshold value from a mean value saved in the local database , and / or the recorded road information data deviates more than a predetermined threshold value saved in the local database , wherein the recorded road information data in this case is saved separately . in the circle h is an evaluation of the execution of a function in f made . if it turns out that the actual outcome of a function deviates more than a predetermined threshold value , from an expected outcome , the quality rating of the used road data information can be made . a recorded road information data is just integrated in a mean value if the newly recorded road information data deviate less than a predetermined percentage from the mean value . a recording is compared with road information data already existing in the local database , wherein it can be decided if , and how the recording shall be saved . a high deviation between a recorded road information data and an existing , mean value in the local database can be caused by an erroneous recording or a change of the route . however , if a second recording deviates less than a second predetermined percentage from the first recording a new mean value is created from the these two recordings , whereby the new mean value is saved in the local database . a transmission of road information data from the local database c to the fleet database is also made . this can be made continuously over a wireless communication link , or just when the vehicle is at a service station or similar . the inventive method enriches the road information data in the describe manner . as new information is stored , the quality of the road information data in the databases ( b , c ) increases , wherein the next run of the same route can be made more effective . the road information data is enriched through new recordings as the vehicle is travelling and through updates of the quality rating of used road information data . | Should this patent be classified under 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | 01e177e1ee97dd7791e5ed38a960d701986e01f8548ee08541ed25b5b65d2cb2 | 0.554688 | 0.207031 | 0.353516 | 0.134766 | 0.451172 | 0.102539 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is 'Human Necessities' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.341797 | 0.006897 | 0.714844 | 0.000216 | 0.176758 | 0.002808 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.427734 | 0.028442 | 0.835938 | 0.003281 | 0.314453 | 0.03064 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.613281 | 0.010681 | 0.785156 | 0.000553 | 0.439453 | 0.005554 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.341797 | 0.005371 | 0.714844 | 0.008606 | 0.172852 | 0.030273 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.341797 | 0.078125 | 0.714844 | 0.207031 | 0.176758 | 0.19043 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.427734 | 0.018311 | 0.835938 | 0.000732 | 0.314453 | 0.035645 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.341797 | 0.025513 | 0.714844 | 0.003479 | 0.172852 | 0.002472 |
null | the measuring arrangement shown in fig1 includes a laser 10 which constitutes a source of monochromatic coherent electromagnetic radiation . the light beam 12 emitted by laser 10 passes through a pin diaphragm 14 to a beam splitter 16 . beam splitter 16 divides beam 12 into two beams of equal energy content , namely a measuring beam 18 and a reference beam 20 . of course the energy applied to the beam splitter could be apportioned differently between the measuring and reference beams . in the illustrated example , beam splitter 16 is made up of two right angle prisms . other suitable beam splitters could of course be substituted . the intensity of the reference beam is controlled by a rotatable polarizer 22 . after passing through polarizer 22 , beam 20 impinges upon a mixer 24 which is constructed in identical fashion to beam splitter 16 . measuring beam 18 passes through a pin diaphragm 26 and a deviating element , here illustrated as a right angle prism , 28 . the beam is deviated by 90 degrees from its original direction of propagation and impinges upon a biconvex lens 30 in a direction parallel to the optical axis of the latter . a cylindrical measuring cell 32 is arranged at the focal point of lens 30 . the cylinder axis is perpendicular to the optical axis 34 of lens 30 and extends in the direction parallel to the direction of beam 12 . measuring cell 32 contains the test particles which will move in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis under the influence of a voltage applied to electrodes 36 and 38 . a biconvex lens 40 , a right angle prism 42 , and a pin diaphragm 44 , respectively identical to lens 30 prism 28 and pin diaphragm 26 , are arranged on the side of measuring cell 32 facing away from lens 30 . specifically , they are so arranged as to form the mirror image of these elements relative to a plane passing through the cylinder axis of the measuring cell in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper . measuring beam 18 after deviation by prism 28 is again deviated by lens 30 in a direction towards its optical axis . it passes through the common focal point f of lenses 30 and 40 . measuring beam 18 is scattered by the particles moving in measuring cell 32 , the frequency of the scattered light being shifted by the doppler effect because of the movement of the scattering particles . the scattered light emanating from the measuring cell in the vicinity of the focal point f falls on lens 40 and emerges from lens 40 in a direction parallel to the optical axis 34 . the part of the light beam emerging from lens 40 which falls on prism 42 is deviated by 90 degrees towards pin diaphragm 44 . beam 46 emerging from diaphragm 54 falls onto beam mixer 24 in such a way that it , together with reference beam 20 whose direction of propagation was changed at the diagonal surface 48 of beam mixer 24 , pass through a pin diaphragm 50 and fall on the photocathode 52 of a detector 54 . since the frequency of the scattered beam 46 differs slightly from the frequency of reference beam 20 , detector 54 receives a signal whose amplitude is modulated by the beat frequency . this signal is used to derive the frequency spectrum from which can then be derived the doppler frequency shift and therefrom the velocity of the moving particles . evaluation stage 56 in which these computations are carried out is not illustrated in detail since it is a known unit and since the present invention is not concerned with this evaluation , but rather with a particularly simple way of causing the correct signal to fall on photocathode 52 , without adjustment of reference beam 20 , regardless of the scattering angle through which the measurement is being taken . the light from measuring beam 18 which enters measuring cell 32 is , in principle , scattered in all directions . the scattering takes place in the main in the forward direction when the particles are larger than the wave lengths of the impinging laser beam . in order to determine the doppler frequency shift resulting from the scattering by the moving particles of the light falling into measuring cell 32 , a knowledge of the scattering angle and the scattering vector is required . scattering angle θ is the angle between the direction of the incoming beam and the direction of the particular scattered beam being observed , that is the angle between the incoming beam and the direction relative to the incoming beam at which the scattering volume is being observed . the scattering angle thus also constitutes the measuring angle . in fig1 the angle θ between the direction of measuring beam 18 and the selected scattered beam 46 is illustrated . the scattering vector k results from the difference between the wave vector of the impinging wave and the wave vector of the scattered wave . the reasons which will be explained in greater detail below , the direction of scattering vector k is in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 in the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . if it is now desired to carry out a series of measurements at different scattering angles , this can be done in a very simple way with the arrangement illustrated in fig1 . specifically , it is only necessary that prism 42 be shifted in the direction towards beam mixer 24 . if prism 42 is moved from the position shown in fig1 in solid lines to the position shown in broken lines , then a scattered beam 46 &# 39 ; having a smaller scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will be detected . however , this changed position of prism 42 does not result in any change in either the direction or the position of the measuring beam coming from prism 42 . the latter thus always impinges upon beam mixer 24 in the same location . it thus always combines properly with reference beam 20 without necessitating any change in the reference beam location or direction for a change in measuring angle . prism 42 and diaphragm 44 thus constitute an optical arrangement which allows selection of light scattered at a particular measuring angle for measuring purposes . reference to fig1 will show that prism 28 which deviates measuring beam 18 towards lens 30 is also adjustable in position , namely in the direction of the propagation of laser beam 12 . specifically , prisms 48 and 42 are both fastened on to a carriage 58 which may be moved by a schematically illustrated calibrated fine control 60 . therefore prisms 28 and 42 are always moved by an identical distance , as is indicated by the positions of the prisms shown by the broken lines . because of this symmetrical arrangement and symmetrical movement of prisms 28 and 42 , the scattering vector k always points in the direction of the cylinder axis of measuring cell 32 and is therefore always parallel to the velocity vector v which indicates the velocity of the particles in measuring cell 32 . if measuring beam 18 would always impinge in the same direction onto measuring cell 32 , then , for different scattering angles θ , the scattering vector would change its direction by an amount θ / 2 . it must be stressed again , that laser 10 , beam splitter 16 , beam mixer 24 , detector 54 , measuring cell 32 and lenses 30 and 40 remain in the same position throughout the whole measuring series . a change in the measuring angle is effected solely by moving the carriage 58 with prisms 28 and 42 . therefore , in order to carry out a whole measuring series for different measuring ( scattering ) angles , it is only necessary to move drive 60 , which is a calibrated drive , by an amount required for the particular desired angular change . a change in the direction or position of the reference beam and therefore an adjustment of the optical elements determining the path of the reference beam is not required . this results in a considerable shortening of the time required for carrying out this series of measurements . fig7 shows a variation of the arrangement shown in fig1 . corresponding elements are labelled with the same reference numerals . the difference between the embodiment shown in fig7 and that shown in fig1 is , that in fig7 prisms 28 and 42 are mounted in a fixed position , while lenses 30 and 40 together with measuring cell 32 are mounted on a carriage 59 . carriage 59 is movable by a fine drive 61 in a direction parallel to the direction of propagation of beams 18 and 46 . if the carriage with lenses 30 and 40 and measuring cell 32 is moved from the position shown in solid lines to that indicated by broken lines , a beam 46 &# 39 ; with a scattering angle θ &# 39 ; will fall onto prism 42 instead of beam 46 with scattering angle θ . this arrangement has the advantage that the carriage 59 carrying the lenses and the measuring cell is smaller than the carriage 58 which carries prisms 28 and 42 as shown in fig1 . the arrangement shown in fig1 and 7 allow measurement of movement of particles in the horizontal direction , as is for example required in the measuring of electrophoretic mobility of the particles . it is however also possible with the apparatus of the present invention to measure the sedimentation rate of the particles , that is the speed with which the particles move in the test fluid under the influence of gravity . for example , the blood sedimentation rate may be measured . this is a clinically important parameter . in order to conduct an angle - dependent measurement of a vertical velocity , prisms 28 and 42 ( fig1 ) or lenses 30 and 40 ( fig7 ) are moved so that the beam coming from prism 28 and the beam entering prism 42 propagate along the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 . in order to have a vertical scattering angle and to change the scattering angle , the cylindrical measuring cell whose axis in the arrangement shown in fig1 is in the same plane as the optical axis of lenses 30 and 40 is shifted in the vertical direction as shown in fig2 . under these conditions the measuring beam 18 does not pass through the cylindrical measuring cell in a straight line , but rather the path of propagation shown in fig2 results . if a denotes the vertical movement of the measuring cell from its original position , r denotes the outer radius of the measuring cell and n denotes the index of refraction of the glass wall of the measuring cell , then , if it is assumed that the index of refraction of the glass wall is approximately equal to the index of refraction of the test fluid , the following equation will be a good approximation : ## equ1 ## from this equation it is seen that up to an angle θ of approximately 20 °, the scattering angle θ is proportional to the change in position a . thus measuring cell 32 is mounted in such a way that it can be shifted in the vertical direction by the aid of a calibrated drive 62 , schematically indicated in fig2 . it is necessary for this type of measurement that the outer radius r of the measuring cell is constant throughout . if a measuring cell with plane parallel surfaces is used instead of cylindrical measuring cell 32 , a vertical scattering vector can be created by mounting lenses 30 and 40 as well as the measuring cell in such a way that their position in the vertical direction can be changed together . for this purpose lenses 30 and 40 and the holder for the measuring cell are arranged on a table 64 which is movable in the vertical direction by means of a fine drive 66 . in fig1 a second detector 68 is arranged at right angles to detector 54 . the two detectors may be operated in parallel , or may be used to analyze the polarized and unpolarized components of the scattered light simultaneously by use of polarizers at 90 ° angles relative to each other . such an arrangement is important for the measurement of anisotropic molecules or particles . the main advantage of the above described apparatus is thus that a change in the measuring angle is achieved either by a linear movement of prisms 28 and 42 relative to lenses 30 , 40 or a linear movement of measuring cell 32 . all other units of the apparatus remain fixed and calibrated as originally set . no goniometer is required . it is true that for the arrangement shown in fig1 scattering a angle θ of at the most 60 ° can be measured . apparatus in which measuring of larger scattering angles is also possible will now be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in fig3 a central column 72 is screwed on to a table 70 . also mounted on table 70 , coaxially to central column 72 and on a ball bearing 76 , is a disc 74 . disc 74 is maintained in a fixed position in the axial direction of central column 72 by a nut 78 , a further ball bearing 80 being arranged between nut 78 and disc 74 . in this arrangement laser 10 , diaphragm 14 , beam splitter 16 and a deviating prism 82 for reference beam 20 are mounted fixedly on table 72 . a measuring cell arrangement including measuring cell 32 is mounted at the upper end of column 72 . the measuring cell is made of a thin glass tube whose axis is arranged intersecting the axis of rotation 86 of disc 74 at right angles . detector 54 , beam mixer 24 and a deviating prism 85 for the scattered measuring beam 46 are arranged on disc 74 . the detector can thus be rotated around axis 86 jointly with the beam mixer , in order to intercept scattered beams at different scattering angles . in conventional arrangements of this type it is necessary to adjust the position of the reference beam in accordance with the rotational position of the above mentioned elements , that is the optical elements which determined the direction of propagation of the reference beam have to be adjusted . the need for this adjustment is avoided in the present invention . specifically , reference beam 20 emerging from beam splitter 16 is deviated by a prism 82 and is focused by lens 88 onto a glass capillary tube 90 . capillary tube 90 is mounted coaxially to the axis of rotation 86 . the reference beam is scattered by the capillary tube . specifically , propagation of reference beam 20 takes place in a slit 91 which extends in the horizontal direction over half the cross - section of surface of column 72 . as is particularly clearly shown in fig4 at the input side of measuring cell 32 measuring beam 18 and reference beam 20 are in a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation 86 . similarly , the scattered beam 46 and reference beam 20 at the output side of measuring cell 32 are in a vertical plane containing axis 36 . however , the latter plane is rotated relative to the first mentioned plane by the scattering angle θ . the two planes therefore intersect along axis 86 . since scattering of the reference beam takes place at the point of intersection of the reference beam with axis 86 , a scattered part of reference beam 20 will fall on beam mixer 24 regardless of scattering angle θ . that means that no optical element determining the direction of propagation of the reference beam need be readjusted or recalibrated when disc 74 turns . the reference beam and the desired measuring beam always fall on the same point of beam mixer 24 , independent of the selected measuring angle θ and from there impinge upon detector 54 in a direction independent of the angle of rotation of the disc . it is obvious that with this arrangement measurements at scattering angles of more than 90 ° can readily be carried out . if the scattering vector k is to remain parallel at all times to the direction of movement of the particles , measuring cell 32 must be turned by an angle θ / 2 when the disc is turned by an angle θ . this requirement can be met without difficulty by use of gearing having a suitable gear ratio between the disc and a mounting for the measuring arrangement 84 . adjustment of the position of measuring arrangement 84 on the column can be achieved by two carriages 81 arranged at right angles to each other . it is a particular advantage of the arrangement according to fig3 and 4 that the optical paths for the measuring and reference beam are exactly identical because of prisms 82 and 85 and beam splitter 16 and beam mixer 24 . this allows optimum use of the length of coherence of the laser beam . this is not the case with the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 . however , even the latter arrangement can be so compactly built that the difference in the path length between the measuring beam and the reference beam is relatively small and that , for a length of coherence for the laser beam of several meters , no serious difficulties arise . it is also to be noted that a grey filter 83 is arranged in the path between beam splitter 16 and deviating prism 82 so that the intensity of the reference beam may be varied . instead of scattering the reference beams by means of capillary tube 90 , the reference beam could be applied to beam mixer 24 by means of optical fibers . since the optical fibers are very flexible it is again possible to rotate disc 74 without requiring a further adjustment of the path of the reference beam . if optical fibers are used the additional advantage results that the length of path of the reference and measuring beams can be adjusted to be exactly equal . in fig1 through 4 the measuring cell is schematically pictured as a tube . a particular arrangement for mounting the measuring cell will now be described relative to fig5 and 6 . this arrangement allows the electrophoretic velocity of the particles to be measured very easily and also allows a quick and convenient changing of the test samples . referring now to fig5 and 6 , a housing 92 is shown which is in the form of a right parallelepiped . housing 92 has two open chambers 94 and 96 which are separated by a block 98 from each other . block 98 has a cylindrical bore 100 for receiving a cylindrical cell holder 102 . bore 100 extends through the whole block 98 , but has a shoulder 104 against which one face of cell holder 102 abuts , so that the latter is exactly positioned in the axial direction within bore 100 . cell holder 102 also has a radial bore 106 which extends in the direction perpendicular to the cylinder axis . bore 106 receives measuring cell 32 , which is a capillary glass tube . bore 106 has a conical shape at its radial extremities . cell holder 102 further has an axial hole which is constituted by a bore 108 which is continued by an oblong reamed hole 110 . bore 108 faces the incident measuring beam , while opening 110 is on the side of the scattered measuring beams . reamed hole 110 increases the angle and thereby the possible measuring region which may be scanned without adjustment of housing 92 . two pins 112 are arranged diametrically opposite one another at the outer surface of cell holder 102 . a key applied to pin 112 allows the cell holder to be turned within bore 100 . turning of cell holder 102 within bore 100 allows measuring cell 32 in its vertical position to be aligned with a lower inlet channel 114 and an upper outlet channel 116 within block 98 . both of channels 114 and 116 are widened in a conical shape towards the outside , to allow application of a syringe . if it is desired to replace measuring cell 32 , cell holder 102 may be pushed out of bore 100 . each of the walls of housing 92 away from block 98 has a threaded hole 118 whose axis extends through measuring cell 32 when the latter is turned in the horizontal direction . electrode holders 120 , each carrying an electrode 122 at its inner extremity , can be screwed into threaded holes 118 . each electrode holder 120 consists of a cylindrical knob which has a knurled outer surface . a socket 124 is arranged on the side of electrode holder 12 which is away from the electrode , and is electrically connected to the latter through electrode holder 120 . when electrode holder 120 is screwed into bore 118 , a ring shaped seal 126 is inserted between the wall of the housing and electrode holder 120 . this prevents buffer fluid from escaping from chambers 94 and 96 . as shown in fig6 the walls of chambers 94 and 96 adjacent to block 98 are of cylindrical shape , the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the axis of bore 100 . this cylindrical surface is so arranged that it intersects the cylindrical bore . this creates two openings 128 located diametrically opposite one another which constitute a connection between chambers 94 and 96 and bore 100 and therefore create the possibility of a connection between measuring cell 32 and chambers 94 and 96 . openings 128 are sealed by dialytic membranes 130 . the latter are pressed by membrane retaining members 132 against the contacting surface 134 formed by the semi - cylindrical wall of the chamber . the side of membrane retaining pieces 132 which abuts membranes 130 is also of cylindrical shape , the radius of curvature being matched to the curvature of surface 134 . in the region of bore 128 , the membrane retaining members have a recess 136 into which the cell holder 102 project ( see fig5 ). commercially available dialytic membranes can be used to constitute the above described membranes . members 132 are pressed against surface 134 by a clamping arrangement . this arrangement includes a bushing 138 which has an open end fastened to the wall of the housing which faces away from block 98 , mounted coaxially with bore 118 . the closed end of bushing 138 has a threaded bore 140 in a direction coaxial to its longitudinal axis . a hollow screw 142 may be screwed into bore 140 . as shown in fig5 when screw 142 is screwed out of bushing 138 , membrane holder 132 is pressed against surface 134 thereby clamping membrane 130 tightly between surface 134 and member 132 to form a tight seal . to allow current to flow between electrodes 122 through measuring cell 32 , a through channel 144 is provided in membrane holders 132 , the channel being aligned with the inside bores of hollow screw 142 and bushing 138 . in order to allow a buffer solution to flow into the through channel , through openings 146 are provided in bushing 138 and the membrane holder . these through openings also allow air to escape which may have been enclosed in the hollow spaces . turning of the hollow screw can be effected with the aid of a pin which is inserted into radial bores 148 of the screw . it is a great advantage of the present invention that the test fluid may be replaced without affecting the buffer solution in chambers 94 and 96 . cell holder 102 can even be pushed out of board 100 without allowing buffer fluid to enter the board . thus the fluid test samples can be exchanged rapidly , again increasing the speed with which a series of measurements can carried out . the housing is preferably made of acrylic glass . a preferred material for manufacturing cell holder 102 and membrane holder 132 is polytetrafluor ethylene since it is impervious to fluid and slides readily . the measuring cell can be a glass capillary tube of , for example , 0 . 8 mn inside diameter whose inner surface is coated with , for example , a hydrogel in order to prevent electrosmosis by shielding the charges on the glass walls . the electrodes may consist of a silver / silver chloride electrode pair or a platinum / platinum electrode pair . fig8 shows an alternate embodiment of the measuring cell arrangement , in a partly sectional side view , the same elements again having the same reference numerals . in the measuring cell arrangement shown in fig8 the blocked - shaped housing 92 is contained within an outer casing generally denoted by reference numeral 150 . casing 150 has a base plate 152 and two lateral guides 154 . base plate 152 may , for example , be fastened to table 64 in the measuring arrangements shown on fig1 and 7 . a horizontal cross sectional view of lateral guides 154 present a substantially c - shaped profile , the distance between the legs of the c being equal to the width of housing 92 . thus , housing 92 may be inserted into the outer casing from the top between the lateral guides 154 as between two tracks and will be retained in a fixed horizontal position by the lateral guides . a check bolt 156 prevents movement of housing 92 in a vertical direction . check bolt 156 passes through a bore 158 and lateral guide 154 in the right hand side of fig8 and has a free end 160 which engages a substantially circular recess 162 in the side of housing 92 facing lateral guide 154 . the position of check bolt 156 shown in fig8 can be fixed by means of a locking pin 164 in a type of bayonet catch arrangement . turning locking pin 164 through a predetermined angle frees it , allowing check bolt 156 to be pulled out of recess 162 . in order to clamp housing 92 fixedly within outer casing 150 , the free end 160 of check bolt 156 is eccentric to its axis , the position of the eccentric being such that check bolt 156 abuts the lower portion of recess 162 when in its final position and thereby presses housing 162 against base plate 152 . conductors 165 are imbedded in base plate 152 , for connecting contacts 166 on the bottom of base plate 152 with sliding contacts 168 arranged on the inner side of lateral guides 154 . each side of housing 92 facing a lateral guide 154 has a contact pin 170 which is connected to the electrode 122 projecting into buffer chambers 94 and 96 respectively . chambers 94 and 96 are each cylindrically shaped . membrane holder 132 is a half cylinder whose edges 172 are inclined at an angle relative to the cylinder axis . holder 132 is pressed against the wall of chamber 94 by means of a half cylindrical clamp 174 whose edges 176 are inclined at an angle complementary to the angle of the edges of membrane holder 132 . when clamp 174 is inserted into a chamber 96 , it acts as a wedge which pushes membrane holder 132 against the membrane . in the measuring arrangement according to fig8 the inlet channel 114 ends on one side of housing 92 , a bore 178 aligned with inlet channel 114 being provided in lateral guide 54 , so that , for example , a syringe with the material to be examined can be inserted into inlet channel 114 . an opening for cleaning purposes which can be closed by a plug 180 is situated at the intersection of the horizontal part of inlet channel 114 and a vertical rise thereof . the measuring arrangement shown on fig8 functions in the same way as that shown in fig5 and 6 . while the invention has been illustrated in preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the circuits or structures shown , since many variations thereof will be evident once skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | 02299663afb5bab8ede670023599a767f8047bff7326f7397c220253950e7610 | 0.613281 | 0.318359 | 0.785156 | 0.355469 | 0.439453 | 0.194336 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is 'Human Necessities' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.046143 | 0.010681 | 0.001244 | 0.000345 | 0.042725 | 0.004333 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.078125 | 0.558594 | 0.010681 | 0.267578 | 0.059326 | 0.490234 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is 'Chemistry; Metallurgy' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.078125 | 0.000096 | 0.010315 | 0.00007 | 0.059326 | 0.000607 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.041504 | 0.000587 | 0.001755 | 0.00014 | 0.021606 | 0.002975 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is 'Fixed Constructions' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.046143 | 0.015442 | 0.001244 | 0.006287 | 0.042725 | 0.014954 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.046143 | 0.000179 | 0.001244 | 0.000055 | 0.042725 | 0.002319 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.041504 | 0.001411 | 0.001755 | 0.00002 | 0.021606 | 0.000828 |
null | fig1 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the system includes a plurality of traffic management centers 2 (&# 34 ; tmc &# 34 ;) located throughout a region of interest . the tmc &# 39 ; s act as local data processing stations for communicating both with vehicles in the area ( via a communication service provider ), as well as with other sources of traffic information and tmc &# 39 ; s , to calculate an optimal routing scheme . the function of the tmc &# 39 ; s is to provide traffic congestion modelling , trip planning and route selection for vehicles in the system . this information is conveyed to the vehicles in the form of path vectors , travel advisories , mayday responses and gps differential correction data . the tmc &# 39 ; s are nodes on a wide area network ( e . g ., advantis ), with communication capability being provided by , in a preferred embodiment , a fixed data network 4 ( e . g ., a cellular wireless network ) by means of an rf network message switch 5 . the network 4 also provides means for tmc communication with a plurality of in - vehicle communication and processing units 6 located in vehicles participating in the system via a wireless data network service provider . the wired and wireless network communication service providers are connected (&# 34 ; bridged &# 34 ;) together as is the practice today . the network includes a plurality of base stations 8 located in strategic geographic locations as is common in the existing cellular mobile phone system to ensure broad , uninterrupted coverage of a particular region . a preferred tmc 2 is shown in fig2 . each tmc comprises a base processing unit 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the base processing unit is an ibm rs6000 workstation , but any comparable device can be employed without departing from the spirit or the invention . the processing unit 10 is connected via a wide area network to public safety and emergency service providers , such as local police , fire and ambulance services , as well as to private service sources such as road service providers . the processing unit 10 also receives , via antenna 12 , positioned at a known location , global positioning system ( gps ) signals from gps satellites , and acts as a differential gps correction data reference receiver for determining precise locations of vehicles within its geographical area . a wireless cellular digital packet data communication modality e . g ., cdpd ( cellular digital packet data ) is used which can support short but frequent communications between vehicles equipped with mobile computers and one of the tmc &# 39 ; s . each tmc is responsible for servicing the travel data needs of the vehicles in a unique geographic territory . the communication protocols can follow the tcp / ip suite of open protocols used in the internet wide area data network communication scheme . in this way , each tmc is assigned an &# 34 ; internet protocol (&# 34 ; ip &# 34 ;) address &# 34 ;, and likewise each vehicle computer is assigned an ip address . each base unit is equipped with a complete database of road segments (&# 34 ; links &# 34 ;) for the entire nation . each road segment is a uniquely numbered record in the database that includes a latitude and longitude for each end of the road segment , and a pair of pointers to two lists of record numbers each representing other road segments connected to either end of the road segment . in this way , the database contains the most essential geometric information to detail the connectivity of any location on a road segment to any other road segment . in addition to this specific static data , fields are provided in the database for dynamic road segment attributes (&# 34 ; link time &# 34 ;) such as time required to transit the road segment in either direction , and fields to represent expected occupancy of the road at future times as a result of vehicle travel plans computed by a tmc . a field is also provided to indicate the geographic tmc territory ( tmc id ) that a road segment resides in . each link record may have additional attributes that make the link &# 34 ; navigable &# 34 ;, such as one - way restrictions , physical turn restrictions , administrative turn restrictions , etc . the tmc is provided with route planning algorithms so that an optimal or near optimal shortest time route can be selected for a vehicle based on the road database static connectivity information and individual road segment expected delay times . the tmc may also be equipped with algorithms to optimize routes based on other criteria , possibly selected by the driver , such as cheapest route ( shortest time constrained to minimize cost ), or least acceleration / deceleration ( to minimize pollution and / or fuel consumption ). fig3 shows a preferred in - vehicle communication and processing unit 20 for use in the system . the unit preferably is an ibm thinkpad computer , but any comparable computing unit equipped with a communications and location determination interface can be used without departing from the invention . the in - vehicle unit includes a wireless data modem 22 acting as an interface between the unit 20 and the wide area network antenna 33 . a gps receiver 24 is provided for generating vehicle position data , which , when combined with gps differential correction data of the local tmc , will yield precise vehicle position . the gps receiver 24 is linked with the in - vehicle unit via pcmcia slot 26 , but any other data interface would not depart from the scope of the invention . it is , therefore , the function of the in - vehicle units to provide the tmcs with trip planning , location and route guidance information . this information is in the form of destinations and travel preferences , actual link travel times and intersection delay queues ; and also mayday requests . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that alternative position sensing means can be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . for instance , the following are acceptable positioning systems : solid - state gyroscope for inertial dead reckoning ; solid - state gyroscope and odometer for inertial dead reckoning ; wheel encoder and flux gate compass for dead reckoning ; gps or differential gps augmented by any dead reckoning method . the in - vehicle unit is augmented with a keyboard 30 to allow the operator to give simple commands to the computer while driving , such as : repeat last instruction ; repeat remaining instructions ; give current location ; and next navigation way point . in an alternative embodiment , vehicles can be supplied with low - end personal computers ( e . g ., notebook computers or palm - top computers ) running a simple dos operating system . in addition , a cost reduced version could be implemented that does not have a general purpose computer at all , but rather an &# 34 ; application - specific &# 34 ; electronic &# 34 ; navigation computer &# 34 ;. this computer or application - specific unit would connect to or have integrated therewith an antenna for the wireless data communication means , and possibly in addition an antenna or other sensor connections for the position / location subsystem . a speaker and microphone system 28 are provided to allow interaction between the driver and in - vehicle unit . the unit can be provided with speech recognition and synthesis capability to allow the driver to communicate a desired destination , route , speed , etc ., and in turn receive synthesized instructions for reaching the destination . other driver interfaces are possible and would not depart from the scope of the invention . the optimal and stable route planning system of the present invention works as follows . before proceeding with a trip , the driver , using his mobile computer , interacts with the tmc 2 over the wireless system to identify a destination . the starting location is communicated to the tmc from the vehicle position subsystem . subsequently , the tmc computes a &# 34 ; best &# 34 ; route based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria ( e . g ., &# 34 ; shortest time &# 34 ;) and the tmc &# 39 ; s awareness of the routes selected by other travelers , and then sends to the in - vehicle computer a list of road segments and their expected characteristics ( e . g ., time to transit ) that the in - vehicle computer can use to assist the driver in navigating . the driver begins the trip , following detailed navigation instructions &# 34 ; spoken &# 34 ; by the mobile computer . instructions may be spoken as taught in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 177 , 685 &# 34 ; automobile navigation system using real time spoken driving instructions ,&# 34 ; incorporated herein by reference . the frequency of the instructions can be presented to the driver in descending logarithmic distance to each waypoint , for example : the driver can select the logarithmic spacing of the navigation instructions to suit personal preferences . as each road segment is transited by the vehicle , the on - board computer records the time it took to transit the road segment , and transmits this information over the wireless communication means to the tmc , which uses this information to update its model of the road segment for future travel planning . in this way , each vehicle acts as a probe to measure the real - time dynamic transit information of the road network . the probe data is also used to update the location of the vehicle and its expected future progress through the road network . the tmc 2 is programmed to sense significant changes in the transit time of a road segment , due perhaps to a non - recurring incident . this program is able to filter out &# 34 ; outlier &# 34 ; events due to vehicles stopping for random events that do not impact traffic flow ( e . g ., pulling over to the side of the road to pickup or discharge passengers or cargo ). when the tmc detects a significant change in a road segment &# 39 ; s traffic parameters , it searches its list of travel plans to see if any en route vehicles would be affected , and if so , it computes new travel plans for those vehicles . if the new travel plans result in significantly better performance based on the driver &# 39 ; s criteria , the new plan and an explanation for the change will be sent over the wireless means to the vehicle &# 39 ; s mobile computer . the travel advisory explanation can also be enunciated to the driver using the synthesis means , along with the new travel plan and specific navigation directions . the specific details of guiding a driver using computer generated instructions to follow a particular route are well known in the art and are described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 031 , 104 , 4 , 992 , 947 , 4 , 939 , 662 , 4 , 937 , 751 , 4 , 782 , 447 and 4 , 733 , 356 , incorporated herein by reference . each tmc computer has a geographic territory for which it is responsible . each tmc operator updates the static information ( e . g ., road geometry , one - way restrictions , etc .) in his tmc computer &# 39 ; s database to correspond to the actual road infrastructure . changes to the static part of the road database will be broadcast to all the other tmcs over the wide area network . when a tmc is computing a route for a client vehicle in its territory , and the destination ( or any part of the route ) is outside the territory , the optimum path algorithm will request over the wide area network dynamic data for specific road segments from the tmc that owns the territory in which the road segment resides . furthermore , when a route is selected , the tmcs owning the selected road segment will be notified of the expected time that the vehicle will be occupying the specific road segments , so that a properly timed &# 34 ; token &# 34 ; can be instantiated in the database record to allow for the expected occupancy of the vehicle at an approximate time . when substantial numbers of vehicles cross the boundaries of tmcs , it may be necessary to implement an even tighter coupling of the operations of several contiguous tmcs , involving a cooperative computation of the routes for all the client vehicles in a set of cooperating tmcs . such cooperative processing can be implemented , for example , over a high - bandwidth , asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) network . in order to enhance the reliability of the system , the dynamic data in each tmc can be shadowed in at least one other tmc , so that if any tmc should become unavailable due to maintenance or failure , the load can be picked up by another tmc . this will require a high availability message &# 34 ; router &# 34 ; 11 to be associated with each tmc . the message router senses when a tmc is non - operational , then forwards messages for a particular tmc to the designated backup tmc . high availability routers can be constructed using any of a number of techniques well known in the art ( e . g ., triple modular redundancy and uninterruptable power supplies ), and in general will be expected to be much cheaper to construct than a high availability tmc . when a vehicle sends a message to a tmc ( such as a transit time message ) that should be redirected to a different tmc ( such as when a vehicle crosses a tmc territorial border ), the message is forwarded to the correct tmc , and the vehicle computer is sent a message indicating the correct address for the tmc controlling the territory it has just entered . the algorithmic task of route selection for a large number of drivers is fairly complex , if one wishes to achieve global optimization of a system involving many drivers . moreover , the optimization may be difficult to achieve if a large number of drivers choose not to follow the routing instructions provided by the tmc . for this reason , a route selection process which results in a very complex path involving many turning movements may be unattractive to drivers , particularly if it does not ultimately result in very superior performance . another factor pointing to the desirability of selecting relatively &# 34 ; smooth &# 34 ; route choices is the possible desire of drivers to confine their choice of routes to a few relatively known alternatives . for these reasons , a possible choice of implementation of the invention involves offering drivers an indication of the best of several pre - designed route choices from a given origin to a given destination . a variant of this alternative , applicable to arbitrary origins and destinations , is to offer drivers the best of a few alternate routes between key &# 34 ; nodes &# 34 ; in a network , plus an optimum route from the driver &# 39 ; s origin to a starting node , and from a terminal node to the driver &# 39 ; s destination . many methods for computing optimal shortest time ( or shortest distance ) routes between two locations on a map are known in the art . one of the earliest , known as the &# 34 ; djikstra &# 34 ; algorithm , begins with one of the locations and expands from that point perimeters of &# 34 ; iso - time &# 34 ;. that is , it takes exactly the same time to get to any location on the iso - time perimeter . the perimeter is continuously expanded one road segment at a time , until an iso - perimeter intersects the destination . finally , the route to the destination is computed by &# 34 ; backtracking &# 34 ; from the last iso - time perimeter ( which represents the total travel time ) to the first iso - time perimeter ( which represents the first route segment ). an iso - time configuration is shown in fig5 . fig6 and 7 show how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of blocked streets . the x &# 39 ; s in the grid indicate streets that are closed . like numerals indicate a like iso - time perimeter , i . e ., the same amount of time to reach that destination from the origin o . as shown in fig6 various ones of the streets could also be slower or faster , accumulating more or less time to transit . in the invention , the queue delay at intersections will be accumulated as well , considering the different delays for left turns , right turns and no turns . fig7 shows how the djikstra algorithm works in the presence of one - way streets . fig7 indicates that there are two alternative routes from the given origin to the destination . based on the actual congestion on the individual links , resulting in longer link travel times , one of the routes may be significantly shorter . if the tmc has already assigned routes to vehicles on one of the routes , the resulting marginal expected congestion caused by these vehicles occupying the links may cause the next routed vehicle to be assigned the alternate route ( as the best available route ). fig4 shows a typical relationship of several link characteristics by time - of - day . such relationships are well known in the traffic monitoring art . vehicle demand is shown in this example to have an am and pm &# 34 ; rush hour &# 34 ; of about 1800 cars / hour ( per lane ). at night , the demand drops to under 200 cars / hour . vehicle speed at night when uncongested has a &# 34 ; freeflow &# 34 ; of about 80 mph ( although drivers will generally limit their speed by &# 34 ; speed limits &# 34 ;) but during the rush hours the free flow speed drops to about 20 mph . transit time for this one - mile segment is inversely proportional to speed , and varies from about 42 seconds at night to about 2 minutes during the rush hour peaks . note that the predicted periodic characteristics for each link will vary based on link geometry and periodic travel demand . in addition , if a large number of vehicles are guided by the tmc , the tmc may be able to influence actual link transit times by diverting vehicles from links with high demand to links with lower demand , thus balancing the load on the road network , resulting in lower travel times for guided vehicles ( as well as the beneficial side effect of lower travel times for unguided vehicles since the guided vehicles will be diverted from congested links , leaving them with less congestion ). the tmc is also provided with databases which allow the driver to easily specify locations in latitude and longitude , an address to latitude / longitude database , possibly augmented with a phone number to address database , etc . these databases and their use are well known in the art . while the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art the modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | d4ce9fa27f078efdf30e7bc4c419170f267b736aa609d8c83531bc15aa54063b | 0.041504 | 0.130859 | 0.001755 | 0.028442 | 0.021606 | 0.087402 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.059326 | 0.00071 | 0.051025 | 0.000103 | 0.155273 | 0.000969 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.059326 | 0.007355 | 0.1875 | 0.007111 | 0.149414 | 0.024414 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.059326 | 0.000132 | 0.051758 | 0.000012 | 0.155273 | 0.001595 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Is 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.074707 | 0.001549 | 0.167969 | 0.000015 | 0.174805 | 0.039063 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.094238 | 0.016357 | 0.382813 | 0.017944 | 0.203125 | 0.048096 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.059326 | 0.000404 | 0.1875 | 0.000051 | 0.149414 | 0.003082 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Is 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology' the correct technical category for the patent? | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.074707 | 0.147461 | 0.162109 | 0.091309 | 0.174805 | 0.178711 |
null | [ 0026 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for terminating unwanted signal propagation . in fig5 as is known , each physical stripe is configured with a virtual stripe by , for example , writing a configuration word to the physical stripe . a detailed explanation of configuration management and data management is provided in schmit , et al , “ managing pipeline - reconfigurable fpgas ” published in acm 6 th international symposium on fpgas , february 1998 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reader desiring more details on the task of writing a configuration word to a physical stripe is referred to the above - identified article . additional details regarding the construction and operation of reconfigurable fabrics may be found in schmit , et al , “ piperench : a virtualized programmable data path in 0 . 18 micron technology ”, in proceedings of the ieee custom integrated circuits conference ( cicc ), 2002 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ piperench : a reconfigurable , architectural and compiler ”, ieee computer , pages 70 - 76 ( april 2000 ), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference , schmit , “ incremental reconfiguration for pipelined applications ”, proceedings of the ieee symposium on fpgas for custom computing machines , pp . 47 - 55 , 1997 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference and schmit et al , “ piperench : a coprocessor for streaming multimedia acceleration ”, international symposium on computer architecture , pp . 38 - 49 , 1999 , the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference . one aspect of the present invention is to include some additional information in the encoding of a stripe ( e . g . in the configuration word ) that indicates whether a read from the register file is the last read of that data value in the application . the “ last read ” information can be generated by the compiler or physical design tool that generates the virtual stripe information , or it can be done by a separate program that analyzes a set of virtual stripes to determine when is the last read . the first and last stripes in an application present special cases . in the last stripe in a virtual application , there are no subsequent stripes . therefore , there are no further reads of values in the register file . in the first virtual stripe , none of the values currently in the register files in physical stripes that are located before the first virtual stripe are going to be used . for stripes other than the first and last stripes in an application , the information about the last time a value in a register needs to be read ( sometimes referred to as the last read information ) can be used in a number of ways to reduce power consumption . [ 0028 ] fig5 illustrates one embodiment for using the last read information to reduce power consumption by masking the value after a final read . in fig5 there are four register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 each having one register 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 , 48 ′, respectively , for purposes of simplicity . the reader will understand that in practice each register file will have a plurality of registers as shown , for example , in fig3 . in addition , the reader will understand that each register could store more than one bit . in the actual piperench implementation described in the previous publications , each register in each register file stores eight bits . in the embodiment of fig5 the last read information is used to fix the value in subsequent stripes in the fabric to a constant value . in the embodiment of fig5 that is accomplished with an and 52 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 42 , and 54 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 44 , and 56 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 46 , and and 58 gate located prior to ( or in ) register file 48 . assuming that the value read from register 44 ′ is the last time that value needs to be read , inputting a zero on one of the input terminals of the and gate 56 forces the value at the output terminal of the and gate 56 , and in the subsequent pass register files , to zero . the value input to the input terminals of the other and gates 52 , 54 , and 58 is not of significance in terminating the propagation of the signal produced by the register 44 ′. other gates that can be used in place of the and gates include or gates , a nand gate . any type of gate that exhibits a monotonic function , i . e . a gate that “ forces ” the output based on a controlling value at one of the inputs , can be used . it will be noticed that the value output by register 44 ′ is terminated , i . e . prevented from propagating , by and gate 56 by forcing that value to zero . in a register , clocking in a constant value consumes less power than clocking in a changing value . thus , forcing the value to zero results in power savings . a similar result can be achieved by masking of the multiplexor read bit for the appropriate multiplexor responsive to the last read register so that the value output by the register is no longer read when no longer needed . in fig6 another method of using the last read information to stop a signal from propagating and for saving power is illustrated . the circuit of fig6 is similar to the circuit of fig5 except that the and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 are positioned to receive a clock signal 60 . the clock signal output by and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 is input to registers 42 ′, 44 ′, 46 ′ and 48 ′, respectively . another way the last read information can be used to reduce power in a register is to stop the register from clocking . in fig6 that is performed by masking ( blocking ) the clock signal 60 to those registers 42 ′, 46 ′, 48 ′ that are unused by inputting a zero to one of the input terminals of and gates 52 , 56 , 58 , respectively . only the one register 44 ′ in use is actually clocked by inputting a one to one of the input terminals of the and gate 54 , which saves significant clock distribution power , as well the power dissipated in the register itself . the set of values input to and gates 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 ( e . g . 0100 ) may be referred to as a clocking mask . [ 0031 ] fig7 illustrates a somewhat more complex embodiment of the circuit shown in fig6 in that instead of the providing a plurality of gates and a clocking mask to the gates , information is provided to a plurality of mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 which locally determine if registers within register files 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , respectively , should be clocked . the design of fig7 requires the additional circuitry of the mask units 62 , 64 , 66 , 68 and two and gates per mask unit to compute the value of the clock mask variable for each stripe ( register file ). the clock mask bit is determined based on what happened “ most recently ” in each register within each register file . what happened most recently is determined from the inputs “ readadd 0 ”, “ readadd 1 ”, “ writeadd ”, “ lastread 0 ”, “ lastread 1 ”, and “ lastvirtual ”, as well information on the state of the previous mask unit . if that register has been “ read for the last time ”, then the clock is masked off . if the register has been written more recently than it has been “ read for the last time ”, the clock is enabled . that can be implemented with a small finite state machine receiving the inputs identified above . in this state machine , shown in fig8 a register in the register file would be clocked if that register is not in the last virtual stripe and was either written in this stripe ( as indicated by the write address ) or was clocked in the previous stripe and was not the last read ( as indicated by the read address and the last read bit corresponding to that port ). [ 0033 ] fig9 illustrates the circuit of fig6 modified to provide local mask units . the previous embodiments use exactly the same information , whether a value in a register is being read for the last time , to determine that the value should not be allowed to propagate , either by forcing the value to a constant ( e . g . zero ) or not clocking the registers , to reduce power . when the pass register file includes more than one register , the combination of the read port address ( which specifies which register is being accessed ), and the bit indicated “ last read ” can be combined to determine which value is being read for the last time in the application . there are other ways to encode this information which , at present , seem less efficient . for example , it is possible to have an explicit “ in - use ” bit for each register in each register file such that it would not be necessary to combine the information with the read port address . thus , the present invention is directed to using any “ register use ” information for power savings . furthermore the information that a stripe is either the first or last virtual stripe can also be used by the mask unit to save power . at the first virtual stripe , the application knows that any data coming from previous stripes is not meaningful for this application . this bogus data could be the results from a prior computation that was executed on the stripes in the fabric . as a result , a mask unit that is informed that a stripe is the first virtual stripe could mask the clock or gate the data for any data arriving from a physical stripe prior to the physical stripe containing the first virtual stripe . [ 0036 ] fig1 shows a complex register file with four registers , two read ports , one write port , and a set of four gates that can make the output values from a register that has been read for the last time constant . fig1 shows a register file with the same parameters as fig1 , but with separate clocks that would be generated by a mask unit . the register file in fig1 , if it were reduced to containing two registers , could be used in fig7 to replace 44 . finally , to address the special cases of the first and last virtual stripe , a register file should have unused register file entries masked ( e . g . see fig1 ) or have their clocks gated by , for example , providing separate clock signals for each register ( see fig1 ). while the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible . the present invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims and not by the foregoing description . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 66134abb2a3efc53f319be73424634bdc7eb2f3bc11c57f968779621cabdcc87 | 0.059326 | 0.081543 | 0.057373 | 0.021606 | 0.155273 | 0.038574 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.123535 | 0.004211 | 0.06543 | 0.000231 | 0.029785 | 0.004608 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.051758 | 0.386719 | 0.035156 | 0.080566 | 0.018311 | 0.410156 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.09668 | 0.000191 | 0.080566 | 0.000043 | 0.011658 | 0.000828 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.150391 | 0.000404 | 0.181641 | 0.000003 | 0.026733 | 0.002975 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.150391 | 0.036133 | 0.181641 | 0.062988 | 0.028931 | 0.094238 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.052734 | 0.00008 | 0.035156 | 0.000015 | 0.018311 | 0.002045 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.051758 | 0.02478 | 0.035156 | 0.000828 | 0.018311 | 0.002716 |
null | an embodiment of this invention is described in detail with reference to drawings as follows . fig2 shows in outline the arrangement of a reproducing apparatus which is an embodiment of this invention . referring to fig2 the reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment includes a transport mechanism 1 arranged to transport a tape t which is a recording medium , an amplifier 2 arranged to amplify a signal reproduced from the tape t , a demodulation circuit 3 arranged to bring a signal outputted from the amplifier 2 back into an original audio signal , a muting circuit 4 arranged to remove noises from the audio signal , a control part 5 arranged to control the transport mechanism 1 , an output terminal 7 , a filter 8 arranged to pass a specific frequency component ( noise component ) which arises in the signal outputted from demodulation circuit 3 due to an unstable travel of the tape t , a detection circuit 9 arranged to detect the level of the specific frequency component , a comparison circuit 10 arranged to compare the output value of the detection circuit 9 with a reference voltage generated by a reference voltage generator 11 and to decide which of the two is larger , and an instructing part 6 arranged to instruct the control part 5 and the muting circuit 4 to act , on the basis of the output of the comparison circuit 10 . incidentally , the filter 8 , the detection circuit 9 , the comparison circuit 10 and the reference voltage generator 11 jointly form a detecting means for detecting a noise component due to the unstable travel of the tape t . the comparison circuit ( level comparator ) 10 is arranged to convert a difference between the detection voltage of the detection circuit 9 and the reference voltage of the reference voltage generator 11 into a two - valued signal and to supply the two - valued signal to the instructing part 6 . in other words , the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” when the detection voltage is higher than the reference voltage , and becomes “ 0 ” when the detection voltage is lower than the reference voltage . the instructing part 6 is arranged to issue an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 at the commencement of the reproducing operation on the tape t and to issue an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 at the same time . after that , the instructing part 6 performs control in such a way as to turn on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 1 ” and to turn off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 when the output of the comparison circuit 10 is “ 0 ”. the operation of the embodiment is described with reference to fig3 and 4 as follows . fig3 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is inadequate . fig4 is a graph for explaining a frequency component of the signal outputted when an input to the demodulation circuit 3 is adequate . first , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for starting reproduction to the control part 5 so as to cause the transport mechanism 1 to begin a reproducing action on the tape t , and issues , at the same time , an instruction for muting to the muting circuit 4 . when the travel of the tape t comes into a stable state , it becomes possible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . the signal is then amplified by the amplifier 2 . the amplified signal is demodulated by the demodulation circuit 3 in such a way as to be brought back into an original audio signal . the adequate audio signal is thus inputted to the muting circuit 4 . immediately after the commencement of the action of the transport mechanism 1 , however , it is impossible to adequately pick up a necessary signal from the tape t . therefore , the output of the demodulation circuit 3 would be either a noise or a signal having a noise mixed therein . it is known that such a noise or signal having a noise mixed therein produces a triangular noise peculiar to the demodulation circuit 3 to which a frequency - modulated signal is inputted , as shown in fig3 . on the other hand , when a necessary signal is being adequately picked up from the tape t , components of the demodulated signal have a distribution in frequency band as shown in fig4 and the level at a frequency band portion “ a ” shown in fig4 is low . then , the frequency band portion “ a ” is extracted by the filter 8 . if the demodulated signal has much noise , components at the frequency band portion “ a ” have a large volume , and , therefore , a detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is at a high level . the reference voltage to be supplied from the reference voltage generator 11 is set at such a value that is a little higher than a detection voltage to be produced by the detection circuit 9 when no noise is included in the demodulated signal . the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 is compared with the reference voltage at the comparison circuit 10 . if the demodulated signal has noise , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes higher than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 1 ” as a two - valued signal . if the demodulated signal has no noise , the output of the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage , and the output of the comparison circuit 10 becomes “ 0 ” as a two - valued signal . the thus - obtained two - valued signal is sent to the instructing part 6 . upon receipt of the two - valued signal , the instructing part 6 turns off the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 0 ” and , turns on the muting action of the muting circuit 4 if the two - valued signal is “ 1 ”. accordingly , if the output of the demodulation circuit 3 is noise or a signal having noise mixed therein , the muting action of the muting circuit 4 is performed to prevent any noise from being outputted from the output terminal 7 . when the amount of noise included in the output of the demodulation circuit 3 decreases with the tape transport action having stabilized , the detection voltage produced by the detection circuit 9 becomes lower than the reference voltage . then , the signal outputted from the comparison circuit 10 changes from “ 1 ” to “ 0 ”. as this change is transmitted to the instructing part 6 , the instructing part 6 issues an instruction for canceling the muting action of the muting circuit 4 , so that an audio signal is allowed to be outputted from the output terminal 7 to produce a sound . according to the above - described operation , the muting action is performed during a time at which a noise is being generated , and the muting action is canceled the instant the noise ceases to be generated . production of sounds thus becomes possible within a minimum necessary length of time . therefore , sounds can be promptly outputted without a delay when the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 has been quickly stabilized . conversely , if the tape transport action of the transport mechanism 1 fails to promptly stabilize , the period of time of the muting action becomes longer accordingly , so that noises can be prevented from being outputted . as described above , a reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds without any noise in a minimum period of time after the start of reproduction , by controlling a period of time of muting on the basis of a result of detection of any noise component that results from an unstable travel of the tape . in accordance with this embodiment , therefore , noises can be muted for the shortest possible length of time required for stabilization of operations including the operation of the transport mechanism for the tape , without paying any heed to a length of time required before the tape comes to stably travel . it is another advantage of this embodiment that , in a case where the length of time required before the stabilization of transport of the tape varies due to aging , etc ., the reproducing apparatus can be kept in an optimum operating condition without requiring readjustment . since a period of time of muting is controlled on the basis of a result of comparison between the reference voltage and the magnitude of a specific frequency component resulting from an unstable transport of the tape , the reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment is capable of outputting sounds within the shortest possible time after the commencement of reproduction . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 1fe3cc102ad6bb03e6db87ed5e792d997a7701acd6f57a74d8aaae3edc8fa087 | 0.09668 | 0.02124 | 0.086426 | 0.019165 | 0.011658 | 0.022339 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Is 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.048828 | 0.001595 | 0.022583 | 0.000045 | 0.088867 | 0.013245 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Is 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology' the correct technical category for the patent? | Should this patent be classified under 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.047363 | 0.0065 | 0.022583 | 0.002045 | 0.088867 | 0.02124 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.043457 | 0.145508 | 0.011353 | 0.131836 | 0.075684 | 0.091309 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is 'Textiles; Paper' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.070801 | 0.02478 | 0.017456 | 0.003281 | 0.095215 | 0.052734 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is 'Fixed Constructions' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.026001 | 0.03064 | 0.00071 | 0.014526 | 0.039551 | 0.08252 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.026001 | 0.017456 | 0.00071 | 0.001411 | 0.039551 | 0.034668 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.044678 | 0.049561 | 0.011353 | 0.119141 | 0.075684 | 0.067383 |
null | as shown in fig1 the conventional , preferably water - based coating , is formed by supplying as indicated at 10 the conventional ingredients ( including a carrier ) of the coating composition and adding a super absorbent as indicated at 12 to these ingredients in a mixer 14 wherein the coating ingredients , including the carrier , and the super absorbent are mixed and the super absorbent dispersed and its particle size defined . after the coating ingredients have been mixed and the super absorbent well dispersed throughout the coating , while retaining the particle size of super absorbent elements to produce swelled super absorbent particles the majority of which have a minimum dimension of less least 5 microns . if the particle size of the super absorbent in the coating is less than about 5 microns the resultant finished surface produce by drying of the coating will not be effective to achieve the required properties for printing of the board using conventional printing techniques as applied to uncoated multiply boards . the particle size of the superabsorbant material use must be such that the discrete void spaces left in the coating after the coating is set be in the range of at least 5 microns and preferably less than 100 microns . generally any suitable super absorbent material that swells significantly by absorption of the carrier and the shrinks substantially when the carrier is driven off is useable so that it tends to form a layer in the cavity formed , however super absorbent polyacrylates have been found particularly suitable . in particular a super absorbent formed of 100 % sodium polyacrylate in the form of a dry white powder or latex emulsion have been found to possess the required particle size and degree of swelling when saturated with water as the carrier in the coating composition . the viscosity of the coatings that were tried and were effective were noted to be significantly different from those that were not effective , as shown in fig2 wherein the viscosities of same basic coating formulations but containing different absorbents are shown . super absorbents a ( a dry powder type ) and b ( a latex type ) were the only ones found to perform satisfactory . the latex type had more uniform size and a greater number of smaller particles than the dry powder type . these measurements indicate that the superabsorbant containing coating should have a brookfield viscosity of at least about 500 cp when measured with a # 4 spindle operated at 30 rpm . in the tests reported in fig2 the carrier in the coating was water , the coating contained 40 % solids , and there were 1 . 5 parts of super absorbent ( based on 100 parts of pigment ). the blank sample is the base formulation without any super absorbant added . it is important that the swelled particle size or void size produced in the coating have a minimum dimension of at least 5 microns and preferably 10 to 60 microns . preferably this minimum dimension will not exceed 100 microns . if the swelled particle size is too large the rheology of the coating formulation will be adversely affected and coating uniformity will be affected . the swelled particles are generally spherical and thus the minimum and a maximum dimension of the swelled particles will be about the same . generally the super absorbent will be present in the coating formulation in the amount of between about 0 . 5 and 10 % w / w based on the dry solids in the coating . more preferably the super absorbent will be present in the range of between 0 . 5 and 3 %. in any event , once the coating has been properly mixed and the super absorbent dispersed therein as indicated at 14 , the coating is applied to coat a substrate as indicated at 16 . the amount of coating applied to the substrate will be any reasonable amount of coating as is normally used in coating board , but preferably the coating will be applied in the amount of 10 to 100 gm / m 2 , preferably about 15 to 25 gm / m 2 . after the carrier held by the super absorbent polymer has been driven off , the material or the coated board or substrate may then be printed as indicated at 22 . the type of coating apparatus used may be any suitable system such as an air knife coater or a rod type coater . the coating is then partially set as indicated at 18 and the carrier absorbed in the super absorbent material is then driven off as indicated at 20 after the coating has sufficiently set so that the void area formed by the driving off of the carrier obtained by the super absorbent material results in the formation of voids within the coating . it will be apparent that the super absorbent material tends to hold or retain the carrier and thus the carrier associated with the elements of the coating tends to be driven off or freed from these other elements before it is released by the super absorbent material , the net effect being that sufficient gelling or setting of the coating occurs before significant amount of the carrier ( water ) absorbed by the super absorbent material is released . the delayed release of this bound carrier forms voids within the coating and produces a significantly rougher surface on the coating and generally a more porous coated board as compared to that normally obtained when conventional coatings are applied . the coated surface may then be printed as indicated at 22 or converted as indicated at 24 and then printed as indicated at 22 . generally , the surface of the coating , when used to simulate a multiply matte white board , i . e . a linerboard having a layer of bleached pulp on its surface will have a ratio of sheffield smoothness ( ss ) to a parker print surf ( pps ), smoothness as illustrated in fig5 such that at a ss of at 290 ml / min the surface will have a pps of at least 6 . 5 pps units and at a ss of 330 ml / min a pps of at least 7 ( see fig5 ). the resultant product as indicated in photomicrograph of fig3 comprises a substrate 24 and a coating 26 . the line 25 has been added to the photomicrograph of fig3 to show the line of demarcation between the coating 26 and the substrate 24 . the coating is formed with a plurality of voids schematically indicated at 28 , many of which are adjacent to and exposed on the surface 30 thereby to form cavities 32 opening to the exposed surface 30 . these voids 28 ( and cavities 30 ) define the roughness of the surface 30 and are a major factor in determining the porosity of the coating 26 . fig4 is a photomicrograph showing a plan view of a portion of the surface 30 with cavities 32 showing as black spots on the surface . the porosity of the coated board is believed to be a significant property facilitating effective priming of the coated board . generally , the gurley porosity of the coated board should be less than about 3 , 500 sec / 100 ml preferably less than 3 , 000 se ./ 100 ml and most preferably less than 2 , 500 sec / 100 ml . the print length , as will be shown by the examples hereinbelow , will preferably be less than 12 cm and more preferably less than 10 . 5 cm measured on an mb print indicator . in printing the rate of absorption of the ink carrier into the substrate , i . e . perpendicular to the surface of the substrate , is important to the printing operation and to the quality of the printing as is the amount of lateral diffusion of the ink carrier along the surface of the substrate , i . e . parallel to the surface of the substrate . generally the former should be rapid and the later should be minimized for the best quality of printing . it is believed that the presence of the redried super absorbent in the pockets or voids in the coating increases the rate of ink carrier absorption directly into the substrate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate thereby to increase absorption of carrier in a direction perpendicular to the surface which decreases the tendency for lateral diffusion of the carried along the surface . this increase in the rate of absorption perpendicular to the surface of the substrate also may reduce the amount of conventional drying required to dry the coating . in the following examples 1 to 7 a paper substrate ( 42 # unbleached linerboard ) was coated on one side only ( top side ) at a speed of 1000 fpm . the paper so coated was dried using a combination of infra red ( ir ) and heated air dryers . the dried coated papers produced has coat weights ranging from 6 to 45 g / m 2 . samples of the dried coated papers were conditioned in accordance with tappi standard t - 402 for a minimum of 12 hours . surface properties of the samples were evaluated in accordance with tappi standards ( when applicable ). tests included brightness ( t - 452 ), sheffield smoothness ( t - 538 ), and parker prim surface ( hard backing , 20 psi air pressure ). a series of bent blade coating trials was performed using an aqueous coating composition prepared by blending the following ingredients by weight : no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . 5 . cmc - 0 . 3 parts water added to total solids of 66 % a grooved rod metering device was used instead of a bent blade . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . a grooved rod coating trial on commercial equipment using a commercial aqueous coating formulation supplied by michaelman . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard so produced was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer at the same time as sheets incorporating a mottled white linerboard in the outside linerboard position were being converted and printed . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures . rod coating trials were performed on commercial equipment using a coating formulation as recommended by the owner of the commercial equipment . the same coating formulation was applied using two different grooved rods . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then primed and converted to boxes on a three color press followed by a flat bed die cutter . a mottled white linerboard was converted and printed in an identical manner . samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality due to a high percentage (& gt ; 50 %) of bar code scan failures and to unacceptable print mottle in the solid print area . print mottle was measured as the standard deviation in print density for the solid primed areas , see table i . commercial coating trials at a custom coating facility using a bent blade ( precoat ) followed by an air knife and a commercial coating formulation . no void structure was observed when samples were examined under a microscope . the coated linerboard was converted into a double face board , the coated linerboard being incorporated at the double backer as the outside linerboard . sheets were then printed and converted to boxes on a flexo - folder - gluer . the samples incorporating the coated linerboard had poor print quality to due tracking and smearing of ink ( poor ink strike - in ) and to poor trapping of the yellow color by the black color . the same equipment and process conditions as example 4 except for the use of a dry powder sodium polyacrylate super absorbent polymer as the superabsorbant . the coated linerboard was converted and printed as in sample 5 . acceptable print quality was obtained . there was limited tracking and smearing of the ink . the yellow ink was trapped by the black . the printed images were also much more clearly defined in comparison to example 5 . commercial air knife coating using the same equipment as in example 5 except for no bent blade precoat . identical coating formulation as in example 6 . a similar pps to sheffield relationship to example 6 was obtained ( see fig5 ). a void structure in the coating was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . coated linerboard was converted and printed similarly to example 4 . print quality equivalent to a mottled white linerboard was obtained . print mottle was comparable . table i______________________________________example liner tested print mottle (%) ______________________________________4 mottled white 1 . 44 coated board 4 . 27 mottled white 1 . 67 coated board 1 . 6______________________________________ as demonstrated in fig5 the parker print versus sheffield smoothness measurements for formulation 6 and 7 is similar to uncoated linerboard and is significantly different from example 1 through example 5 . a void structure in these coatings was observed when the samples were examined under the microscope . fig6 shows the ink drawdown measurements made on an mb print indicator for the products produced in examples 1 to 7 and for comparison similar test on the uncoated base stock and a typical mottled white board . it is apparent that the two examples that were successful had print lengths of less than 9 cm ; the product they are intended to replace had a print length of 10 . 4 and those that were unsuccessful had print lengths significantly longer than 12 cm indicating that print lengths less than about 12 may still produce the required result and that print lengths less than about 10 . 5 are preferred . test were conducted on two different boards , the first having a basis weight of 38 gm / m 2 and the second a basis weight of 69 gm / m 2 . the first and second boards had porosities before coating respectively of less than 66 sec / 100 ml and less than 28 sec / 100 ml and porosities after coating using a coating formulated in accordance with the present invention respectively of less than 2000 sec / 100 ml and 1000 sec / 100 ml . when the first board was coated with conventional coatings its porosity was greater than 4800 sec / 100 ml . it has been found that for a brighter product or to reduce the coat weight applied , titanium may be substituted for some of the delaminated clay . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 804a9172866a3eed35ea3d697868d54fec73bf09957f50989e6d47c3bfcecb74 | 0.026001 | 0.000572 | 0.00071 | 0.000055 | 0.039551 | 0.000231 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Should this patent be classified under 'Human Necessities'? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.032471 | 0.00885 | 0.027588 | 0.000158 | 0.066406 | 0.00592 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is 'Performing Operations; Transporting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.032471 | 0.034668 | 0.027588 | 0.019165 | 0.066406 | 0.052734 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.059326 | 0.000179 | 0.056641 | 0.00002 | 0.050293 | 0.000912 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.103516 | 0.00103 | 0.168945 | 0.000668 | 0.122559 | 0.028442 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.059326 | 0.028931 | 0.056641 | 0.200195 | 0.050293 | 0.124023 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.032471 | 0.001205 | 0.027588 | 0.000418 | 0.066406 | 0.014526 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.059326 | 0.109863 | 0.056641 | 0.014954 | 0.050293 | 0.371094 |
null | fig1 shows a schematic block diagram of a radar level gauge 10 , in which the present invention advantageously can be implemented . the radar level gauge is arranged to determine the position of the surface of a material 11 in a tank 12 ( i . e . the filling level of the material 11 ). the radar level gauge 10 includes a microwave unit 13 , adapted to emit waves into the tank , and to receive reflected microwaves , processing circuitry 16 for communicating with said microwave unit and for determining a measurement result based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves , and a power management unit 17 for providing required power to the processing circuitry and the microwave unit 13 . the microwave unit 13 can comprise a microwave controller 14 , a microwave emitter / receiver 15 , and a signal transfer medium 18 connecting the emitter / receiver 13 to the controller 14 . the controller 14 is connected to the processing circuitry 16 by a data bus 20 , and is adapted to generate a microwave signal in accordance with control data from the processing circuitry 16 . the controller 14 can comprise a transmitter , a receiver , a circulator and any control circuitry required to manage these components . further , the controller 14 can comprise an a / d - converter for digitizing a tank signal , i . e . a signal received from the tank . the emitter / receiver 15 can , as shown in fig1 , include a free radiating antenna 19 in the top of the tank , or alternatively the emitter / receiver 15 can include a probe extending into the tank . the signal transfer medium 18 can be a wire or cable , but can also include more sophisticated wave guides . in case of a explosive or otherwise dangerous content in the tank 12 , the signal transfer medium 18 may include an air tight seal passing through the tank wall . it is also possible that the controller 14 is connected directly to the emitter / receiver 15 with a suitable terminal , or that the emitter / receiver 15 is arranged on the same circuit board as the controller 14 , in which case the signal transfer medium simply may be a track on the circuit board . the system 10 is connected to an interface 21 , for providing the system 10 with drive power , and possibly also for communicating a measurement result externally to the gauge system . in the illustrated example , the interface 21 is a two - wire interface , comprising two lines 22 , 23 , and an electrical barrier 24 . the barrier 24 ensures that the area 25 , in which the gauge system 10 is installed , is intrinsically safe , i . e . that power , current and voltage transferred through the interface 21 are kept below given limits , reducing the risk of hazard . an example of such a two - wire interface , at the same time providing drive power and communicating a measurement signal , is a 4 - 20 ma industrial loop . the power management unit 17 is connected to one of the lines 22 and is adapted to convert the voltage in the two - wire interface ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v ), into an operating voltage suitable for the circuitry 16 and the microwave driver 14 , typically in the order of 3 v . in the simplest case , the power management unit 17 is a dc / dc step down converter and a smoothing capacitor . the power management unit is connected to the circuitry 16 via a line 26 and to the microwave driver 14 via a line 27 . both lines 22 , 23 are further connected to a current control unit 28 , which is controlled by the processing circuitry 16 via a digital bus 29 . the bus 29 also carries communication according to the hart protocol , to be superposed in the current in the loop 22 , 23 . the control unit 28 can be supplied with drive voltage from the power management unit 17 . in use , the processing circuitry 16 controls the microwave controller 14 to generate a measurement signal to be emitted into the tank 12 by the emitter / receiver 15 . this signal can be e . g . a pulsed signal ( pulsed level gauging or multiple frequency pulsed wave , mfpw ), or a continuous signal with a frequency varying over a certain range ( frequency modulated continuous wave , fmcw ). the microwave emitter 15 acts as an adapter , enabling the signal generated in the controller 14 to propagate into the tank 12 as microwaves , which can be reflected by the surface of the material 11 . a tank signal , i . e . the emitted signal and its echo , or a mix of emitted and reflected signals , is received by the emitter / receiver 15 , and communicated to the microwave controller 14 , where it is received and a / d converted . the digitized signal is then provided to the processing circuitry 16 via bus 20 , and the processing circuitry 16 determines a measurement result based on a relation between the emitted and received waves . the measurement result is then communicated to the current control unit 28 via bus 29 , and the current flowing through the current control unit 28 is regulated so that the total current in the current loop corresponds to the measurement result . fig2 shows a power management circuitry 30 according to a first embodiment of the invention . this circuitry can advantageously be used as or be incorporated in the power management unit 17 in fig1 . according to this embodiment , the circuitry 30 includes a dc / dc step - up converter 31 , here referred to as a boost converter , and a dc / dc step - down converter 32 connected in series . both converters are preferably of the type that performs voltage conversion while essentially preserving the input power . ( of course , this is an ideal situation , in reality there will be a slight power loss due to conversion efficiency .) in between the two converters is provided a temporary energy store 33 . as temporary energy store it is possible to use a reservoir capacitor 33 or any other type of element or combination of elements adapted to store electrical energy when a voltage is applied over it . of course , the temporary energy store may include other components in stead of or in addition to the capacitor 33 . for example , the temporary energy store may include a resistance in series with the capacitor 33 , in order to safeguard the capacitor against peak voltages . the resistance should preferably be so small that the voltage drop across this resistance is negligible at the typical currents . the circuitry 30 preerably also comprises a diode network 38 , connected on one of the lines tio prevent energy from the energy store 33 from leaking back into the current loop 22 , 23 . the diode network 38 may comprise one or several diodes , and simply ensures that no current is allowed to flow in the opposite direction than intended . the circuitry 30 preferably also includes a current limiting unit 39 . the purpose of the current limiting unit 39 is to ensure that the power consumed by the power management unit 17 does not create a current in the loop exceeding the current value corresponding to the measurement value determined by the gauge . if , for example , the measurement result corresponds to a current in the loop of 5 ma , the current management unit 17 must not consume power so that the current in the loop exceeds 5 ma . this is ensured by the current limiting unit 39 . in a very simple case , the limiting unit 39 is just a fixed current limiter , limiting the current to the minimum value of the current loop , e . g . 4 ma . alternatively , the current limiting unit can be controlled in accordance with the currently available current in the loop . for this purpose , a control signal 40 can be provided from the control unit 28 , or directly from the processing circuitry 16 . in some situations , the energy storage in the power management circuitry 30 is too large to fulfill the is regulations . the circuitry 30 may then be encapsulated in order to make the device explosion proof . one alternative is to encapsulate the entire rlg 10 . however , it is generally difficult to meet explosion proof requirements , as the microwave unit 13 typically has a microwave cavity . therefore , it may be desirable to encapsulate only the power management circuitry 30 , while the rest of the rlg 10 is intrinsically safe , i . e . fulfils suitable is standard . in this case , a barrier 34 ( similar in function to the barrier 24 ) may be arranged on the output side of the circuitry 30 , to ensure a limitation of extracted power and current . the encapsulation may be made using a potting material . the encapsulation should preferably be free from cavities . by selecting a suitable potting material , more power can be dissipated in encapsulated small components and thus more power may actually be made available for consumption . the issue of surface temperature of specific components will in practice be transferred to an issue of whether the potting material is specified to withstand the maximum internal temperature . this means that the selected potting material needs to have good thermal conductivity or withstand high enough maximum temperatures ( or both ). in use , the converter 31 converts the supply voltage v drive on line 22 ( typically in the order of 5 - 20 v , depending on factors such as line resistance ) up to a higher intermediate voltage v int ( typically in the order of 25 - 30 v ). note that under some circumstances ( with low available line voltage ), the up transformation can be significant , and may be 4 or 5 times . under other conditions , with higher available line voltage , the up - transformation may be less significant , and may be only around 25 %. the capacitor 33 is therefore charged at the higher voltage v int , ensuring a short charging time . as an example , energy in the order of mws can be stored in the capacitor 33 . at an intermediate voltage of 25 v , this corresponds to a capacitance in the order of tens of μf . due to the relatively low requirement of capacitance , superior capacitor types like tantalum may be used , improving the robustness of the system . such capacitors have limited temperature variation and better life span , especially at high temperatures . the intermediate voltage v int is subsequently stepped down to a lower level v op by the step - down converter 32 . the voltage v op can be essentially equal to the operating voltage of the processing circuitry 17 and / or microwave unit 13 , typically in the order of 3 v . when the processing circuitry demands more power than is available from the interface 21 , the reservoir capacitor 33 will be discharged , thereby providing additional power needed e . g . for powering the microwave unit 13 during transmission . this will be especially important when the available current in the current loop is low ( i . e . during periods of a low measurement value ). optionally , the step - up converter 31 is provided with a control port 41 , and the step - down converter 32 is provided with a control port 42 , both arranged to receive a control signal 43 . this control signal 43 permits by - passing the energy storage in circuitry 30 . fig3 illustrates the system in fig1 , where the power management unit 17 is adapted to include a by - pass of power management circuitry 30 as mentioned above . the processing circuitry 16 here receives a monitor readout 44 from the power management unit 17 corresponding to the voltage v int in fig2 , and returns the control signal 43 to the power management circuitry 17 . this control of the power management circuitry 17 provides the possibility to bypass the power storage in capacitor 33 during periods when no such storage is required , e . g . when a large current is available on the loop 22 , 23 , or when the processing circuitry 16 requires an immediate voltage , e . g . during startup . the monitor readout also provides a possibility to optimize the duration of the measurement cycle , in order to ensure that sufficient charging of the temporary energy store can be effected between measurements . in principle , monitor readout 46 can be used to initialize the next measurement cycle as soon as the temporary energy store is sufficiently charged . such control would make the duration of the cycle dynamic , so that it will depend on the available power , i . e . the current in the loop . the person skilled in the art realizes that the present invention by no means is limited to the preferred embodiments described above . on the contrary , many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . for example , the power management circuitry according to the invention is not necessarily provided in only one place in the radar level gauge , but may be distributed in the system . for example , the circuitry described with relation to fig2 and 3 may be implemented directly in the microwave controller 14 . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Should this patent be classified under 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | 9ce518e82406c026cef72a4bc67b47f74fcd1eed1f487a7850a118bdd1ea690f | 0.103516 | 0.169922 | 0.168945 | 0.206055 | 0.122559 | 0.175781 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Is 'Human Necessities' the correct technical category for the patent? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.038574 | 0.002975 | 0.006287 | 0.000553 | 0.055908 | 0.001328 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Performing Operations; Transporting'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.02002 | 0.146484 | 0.001808 | 0.016357 | 0.023682 | 0.087402 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Chemistry; Metallurgy'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.011353 | 0.000504 | 0.003082 | 0.000231 | 0.019409 | 0.000912 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Textiles; Paper'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.011353 | 0.001099 | 0.003082 | 0.000035 | 0.019409 | 0.004761 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Fixed Constructions'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.011353 | 0.005554 | 0.003082 | 0.005737 | 0.019409 | 0.017456 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Is 'Physics' the correct technical category for the patent? | Does the content of this patent fall under the category of 'Mechanical Engineering; Lightning; Heating; Weapons; Blasting'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.011353 | 0.000519 | 0.003082 | 0.000938 | 0.019409 | 0.003708 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'Physics'? | Should this patent be classified under 'Electricity'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.038574 | 0.000058 | 0.006287 | 0.000018 | 0.055908 | 0.000169 |
null | in centralized mode of operation , such as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 249 , 714 , a network distributed search and design application using evolutionary agents has one node where an evolutionary agent is resident . the remaining nodes in the network participate in the search by simply providing information to the evolutionary agent upon request . in this mode , a search of the full space of the system takes place from only the one node occupied by the evolutionary agent , while the remaining nodes simply respond to queries from the agent . based on the responses received , the evolutionary agent creates and evaluates virtual designs , and uses proportional selection and stochastic variational operations to evolve virtual designs for evaluation . the present invention , by contrast , provides a solution method and architecture in which multiple evolutionary agents operating at different , distributed nodes all work to solve the same problem simultaneously . referring now to the drawings , in which like reference numerals are used to refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 illustrates a distributed network architecture 10 for supporting multiple coevolutionary agents 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , 30 d spread among several nodes 20 a , 20 b , 20 c , 20 d . each node 20 a - 20 d includes a networked computer 25 a - 25 d , a connected local database 50 a - 50 d , an evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d and several mobile agents 60 . each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d shown in fig1 may be a member of a logical cluster of nodes networked together in a local network , as will be further described herein . further , while only four nodes 20 a - 20 d are illustrated , there may be as few as 2 nodes and up to any number of nodes which can actively work together on the same network . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d are actually co - evolutionary agents because they can evolve simultaneously with each other , using some overlapping information and some unique information . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d includes primary search variables 32 a - 32 d and secondary search variables 34 a - 34 d . the search variables 32 a - 32 d and 34 a - 34 d are partitioned among the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes 20 a - 20 d performs a local evolutionary search using its corresponding primary search variable 32 a - 32 d . the local evolutionary search is based on local and rapidly accessible information from the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . during the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d are clamped , or held constant . following execution of the local evolutionary search , the secondary variables 34 a - 34 d at each node 20 a - 20 d are updated by intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d . mobile agents 60 are used to effect the intercommunication between the nodes 20 a - 20 d by carrying information from an originating node to a destination node . the mobile agents 60 provide missing computational functionality at the nodes 20 a - 20 d where they migrate . the local search phase and intercommunication phases are alternated to produce a cooperative search by the nodes 20 a - 20 d , guided by the same objective search function . the evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d performs the following functions . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d implements a local evolutionary algorithm that searches over the subspace corresponding to locally available information in the local database 50 a - 50 d . each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d initializes using appropriate information that permits the agent 30 a - 30 d to do local decision - making . the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d each generate and execute queries on the corresponding local database 50 a - 50 d . finally , the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d co - exist in a pool of evolutionary agents , and participate in coordinating a global computation of a given problem via interactions with other ones of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d and mobile agents 60 . the coordination of the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d is most critical , since a coordination operation essentially provides an updated view of the local information from a certain node 20 a - 20 d to another of the nodes 20 a - 20 d where that information is not currently available locally . that is , the coordination function permits the several evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d to co - extensively evolve based on their local searches , while being fed new information from other nodes 20 a - 20 d between searches . when more than one node exists in a logical cluster of nodes 20 a - 20 d , the virtual designs generated by each node 20 a - 20 d in the logical cluster compete with each other during the coordination operation . this function allows local solutions generated by the evolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d at each of the nodes within a logical cluster to compete against all of the other local solutions produced . further , the subproblems solved by each node 20 a - 20 d in a logical cluster are different , despite being functionally similar . that is , the subproblems are different because of the differences in local resources , such as local databases 50 a - 50 d , available to each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d , and each evolutionary agent 30 a - 30 d searches over a different , smaller space of the whole search space of planning decisions . the coevolutionary algorithms embodied in coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d have no direct means to search the full space of all planning decisions in the network architecture 10 . while a single , centralized evolutionary agent compiles a list of all available decision resources at all nodes and explicitly searches the full space of planning decisions , such an operation can be slow and time - consuming in a distributed network environment . in contrast , the distributed co - evolutionary model of the invention allows each agent 30 a - 30 d at each node 20 a - 20 d to explore the full space of planning decisions using an information splicing operation in which information from each of the other nodes 20 a - 20 d carried by mobile agents 60 is stochastically combined at the first node 20 a - 20 d . the stochastic information splicing may be viewed as a crossover operation for combining information from the nodes 20 a - 20 d . it is possible that as a practical matter , at some local nodes in a logical cluster of networked nodes , the evolutionary agents will not achieve convergence with the overall solution being produced by the other evolutionary agents as part of a global solution . this is inevitable to a distributed coevolutionary processing problem as some evolutionary agents will not have sufficient local information or useful local information for solving the global problem . in such case , evolutionary algorithms in the evolutionary agents will eliminate designs produced from the non - converging nodes as unsuitable for further consideration , while the remaining nodes with good local information and advantageous resources for solving the global problem will continue to evolve to produce a solution accessible at substantially any one of the nodes 20 a - 20 d in the architecture 10 . as an example of an evolutionary algorithm which can be adapted for use with the distributed computation of the invention , let χ be the decision space . then , x ε χ is the variable vector , and x =( x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , . . . , x p ) represents a partition of the vector into p blocks . at any node i , x i is its primary variable set 32 a - 32 d , while x i is the secondary variable set 34 a - 34 d . given a feasible space χ and a variable distribution , the evolutionary agent at each node i performs a local evolutionary search in its primary subspace χ i , and so χ is the product space χ = π p i = 1 χ i . ( x * i | x i )= arg min [ x i εχ i ] ψ ( x | x i ) is the optimizer in the restricted space (·| x i ). the evolutionary search in the primary subspace of each node i utilizes proportional selection and stochastic variational operations . each evolutionary search described above is initialized with a randomly selected complete vector of variables x g . mobile agents facilitate the broadcast of this vector to all nodes 20 a - 20 d in the network architecture 10 . the evolutionary search starting from this point may be represented by the mapping t i : χ → χ i that generates the sequence : x ( i , g + m + 1 ) = ti ( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ), m ≧ 0 x g ( i ) =( x ( 1 , g ) , . . . x ( i − 1 , g ) , x ( i , g + m ) , x ( i + 1 , g ) , . . . , x ( p , g ) ) and x g ( i ) converges to ( x * i | x i ), where x g ( i ) is the result of m generations of evolutionary search at node i , starting from point x g . now , let z g ={ x g , x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) } be a set of local results and the vector x g , and let s : χ → χ represent the computation that selects that vector from z g - x g which has the highest fitness and makes it the new iterate x g + 1 only if its fitness is greater than that of x g . otherwise , x g + 1 = x g . the computation x g + 1 = s ( x g ) represents a global iteration that encapsulates the combined m - step local search at each node and the intercommunication operation , or coordination , that facilitates selection and update of new iterates . from the architectural perspective , mobile software agents 60 facilitate the coordination by transferring necessary information between coevolutionary agents 30 a - 30 d . there are presently six preferred distributed coordination schemes , each of which uses information splicing . the schemes are referred to as local , joint , pool , elite local , elite joint and elite pool . the implementation of information splicing takes p vectors of the same dimension and creates a vector such that each of its coordinates is a random selection from the set of p coordinates along the same dimension . to help describe the coordination schemes , the following assumptions are made : 1 ) the network environment has p network nodes ; 2 ) x g ( i ) is the best vector from node i at generation g ; 3 ) { x g ( i ) } is a set of vectors from node i at generation g ; 4 ) { x g ′} is a set of randomly created vectors at generation g ; and 5 ) y g is the vector obtained by combining the best local result portions from each node . in the local coordination scheme , from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best one as the new global iterate . the set { x g ′} consists of p elements created by splicing from the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) }. the joint coordination scheme has the set { x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g from which the best is selected as the new global iterate . the elements of set { x g ′} are the same as in the local coordination scheme . for the pool coordination scheme , from the set {{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . ,{ x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}} select the best as the new global iterate . each set { x g ( i )} represents t = 5 top performers from each node i , and the set { x g ′} is created as described above for the local and joint schemes from a set of size ( t × p ) rather than a set of size p . for the elite local scheme , from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}, select the best as the new global iterate where x g is the previous global iterate . in the elite joint scheme , select the best from the set x g ∪{ x g ( 1 ) , . . . , x g ( p ) , { x g ′}}∪ y g as the new global iterate . and , in the elite pool scheme , select as the new global iterate the best from the set x g ∪{{ x g ( 1 ) }, . . . , { x g ( p ) }, { x g ′}}. one network system that can be used to implement the distributed co - evolutionary agent problem solving system uses java programming language developed by sun microsystems inc . the implementation executes over multiple processing units distributed over a network . the implementation is based on the use of the voyager object request broker developed by objectspace inc . as the underlying distributed communications environment . the voyager broker is described in the objectspace voyager orb 3 . 3 developer guide ( 2000 ), incorporated herein in its entirety by reference . the voyager program serves as a middle - ware layer that provides a location - transparent and standardized environment for execution of the java modules . a significant advantage to using voyager is that it simplifies the task of remote enabling applications modules by automatically adding this feature at run - time , and it supports the inter - node migration of modules . the latter feature is an important requirement for realizing the mobile agents 60 in architecture 10 . as will be readily apparent , there are many applications for the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 of the invention . the following provide specific examples of how the distributed coevolutionary problem solving architecture 10 can be used to rapidly provide solutions to complex problems . planning new product designs by coordinating between designers , suppliers and manufacturers is a very complex problem which is dependent on many factors , including availability of parts and manufacturing resources , and costs for parts and tooling and assembly and the ability to generate efficient designs . [ 0072 ] fig2 displays a pictorial model of the problem of integrated design , supplier and manufacturing planning for modular products where suppliers and manufacturing resources are network distributed . the mathematical structure of this planning task is given by the equation : where x represents a complete decision vector , ψ (·) is a nonlinear objective function , a is a constraint matrix , and b is a constraint vector . a decision problem in this formulation consists of three assignment problems , a 1 , a 2 , and a 3 , as represented by the corresponding arrows in fig2 . the assignment problem a 1 is the assignment of parts 210 from parts library 200 to one or more designs 510 in a pool 500 of possible designs . assignment problem a 2 is the assignment of suppliers 310 from a list of available suppliers 300 who can supply the parts 210 for a given design 510 . assignment problem a 3 is the assignment of designs 510 to available manufacturers 410 in a manufacturing resource pool 400 . as will be apparent , each of the assignments in each assignment problem a 1 , a 2 , a 3 contributes to the overall product cost and product realization time . further , each assignment has a non - linear effect on the cost and time ; that is , the effect cannot be evaluated as weighted sums . the assignment problem triple ( a 1 , a 2 , a 3 ) constitutes a set of highly coupled problems and each of the assignments cannot be considered independent of the others . product cost is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts 210 in a given design 510 and the cost of manufacturing the design 510 , while product realization time is computed as an aggregate of the cost of parts supply lead time and time to manufacture the design 510 . the overall objective function that is to be minimized is an heuristic weighting of the product cost and an exponential function of the product realization time , as given by : where c ( x ) and t ( x ) respectively represent the product cost and product realization time for a complete design - supplier - manufacturing assignment x , and α and β are non - zero constants . [ 0077 ] fig3 illustrates the organization of a networked environment 600 used to solve the problem depicted in fig2 in the context of printed circuit board assemblies . the networked environment 600 of fig3 is depicted as a high - level configuration that consists of several logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 of network nodes 720 , 820 and 920 and a product design node 620 . the nodes 720 , 820 , 920 in each logical cluster 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to a class of functionally equivalent resources , and typically are physically distributed across the entire network 600 . in fig3 the logical clusters 700 , 800 , 900 correspond to parts distributor nodes 720 , printed circuit board fabricator nodes 920 and printed circuit assembly nodes 820 . each parts distributor nodes 720 in the parts distributor logical cluster 700 corresponds to a parts distributor or parts warehouse that stocks components parts from several manufacturers . each node 920 in the printed circuit board ( pcb ) fabricator logical cluster 900 corresponds to a pcb manufacturer having one or more pcb manufacturing lines . each printed circuit assembly node 820 of the printed circuit assembly logical cluster 800 corresponds to a manufacturing facility having alternative manufacturing lines , each of which is capable of manufacturing printed circuit assemblies given a design , or collection of parts , and an associated pcb to assemble the parts on . the product design node 620 generates functional specifications that serve as partial templates for virtual designs . while the search at a parts distributor node 720 is over the space of functionally equivalent designs and is achieved by selecting alternative parts and suppliers for those parts , the search at a pcb fabricator node 920 is over the space of available board manufacturing resources , and the search at a printed circuit assembly node 820 is over the space of available assembly resources . mobile agents 60 ( not shown in fig3 ) communicate results between the various nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 , so that the final minimized result can be obtained from any of the nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . another application of the distributed coevolutionary problem solving invention is in the context of an internet or world wide web ( www ) search engine . presently , the www as it is commonly known consists of a vast collection of diverse information which is estimated to be about 1 . 5 billion documents large and growing . a large percentage of that material is available in the form of web pages whose content is organized according to a markup protocol , such as xml or html . web pages frequently provide content - dependent links to other web pages , and their organization may be visualized as a graph whose nodes are the web pages , and whose edges , or connections between nodes , are the links between pages . searching and organization of web pages for rapid retrieval has been the critical focus of contemporary search engines , and without these search engines most of the information on the web would be inaccessible to users . known search engines are essentially user - queryable centralized databases which contain indexed maps of the information on the www . the indices in the databases are populated and refreshed on a periodic basis by “ crawlers ” or “ spiders ” or “ bots ” that retrieve and parse web pages by visiting nodes ( pages ) and following the edges ( links ) between nodes . essentially , these crawlers employ one of many graph search techniques in an attempt to traverse , retrieve , and organize distributed content based on index terms . in addition to web pages , there are also many searchable dynamic databases reached through individual web pages which process directed queries posed at the entry web page . current crawlers are incapable of accessing and conducting searches on the content of these databases . the large size and dynamic qualities of these databases make it impractical for a crawler to index them , because it effectively requires replicating the database in the crawler search engine database , and constant change would quickly make the search engine database out of date . further , most crawlers are not capable of making the structured , directed queries necessary to locate information in the dynamic databases . it is generally accepted that the www follows a widely distributed multi - database architecture . to a local user , any single database in the www environment appears as a centralized repository , while it appears as a distributed collection of databases to a global user who wants to access coupled content from several databases . the following describes the application of the coevolutionary problem solving method of the invention to a dynamic retrieval and globally optimal organization , viewed from the perspective of search relevance , of logically interrelated information distributed across several www databases . first , assume there is a space of p database nodes available on the www . let a query q =( q 1 , q 2 , . . . , q p ) represent a partition and assignment of q over each of the p nodes . let χ i be the space of local results at node i due to sub - query q i . as a consequence , χ is the product space of results χ = π p i = 1 χ i . let x =( x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x p ) εχ represent a specific result . min { ψ ( x ): x = ( x 1 , . . . , x p ), x i εχ i ∀ i where ψ (·) is a metric that measures the search relevance of a global result . this problem can visualized as the search for an optimal space of joint results from a cartesian space of result tuples , wherein optimality is measured with respect to the search relevance of global results . the organization of the networked environment for the database search application is naturally a collection of nodes over which the coevolutionary search process executes using the planning problem as a foundation . coevolutionary agents are created with programming to evaluate the planning problem and distributed to each of the collection of nodes . nevertheless , there is an advantage to consider a networked environment of logical node clusters ( similar to that of fig3 ), wherein each logical cluster represents a certain topic - based specialization of available information . the role of the product design node 620 of fig3 for example , in the search engine application would be the node at which the user is resident and generates the search queries . the coevolutionary agents are created as a result of the user formulating search queries and local searches are performed by coevolutionary agents at each node 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 . following the initial local searches based on the primary search variables and updating the evolutionary agent solutions with the local search results ( the primary search variables ), mobile agents are used to communicate the results of the local searches to the other coevolutionary agents resident at the other nodes 620 , 720 , 820 , 920 in the system architecture . the coevolutionary agents are updated with the transported local search solutions ( the secondary search variables for the agents at different nodes ) from where the using one of the coordination schemes discussed above . the search and updating steps may be repeated to produce evolved solutions which are further optimized based on the underlying algorithm and are superior to those of prior generations . although the distributed coevolutionary problem solving method is discussed in terms of producing printed circuit boards and conducting database searches , clearly , the method is adaptable to solving other complex , coupled manufacturing or delivery problems or performing distributed database searches across any collection of distributed sources . while a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention , it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles . | Should this patent be classified under 'Physics'? | Is this patent appropriately categorized as 'General tagging of new or cross-sectional technology'? | 0.25 | 6f610a32c30411f53b489e10caf0ac99da998641f73159dba09eb8149c515523 | 0.02002 | 0.166992 | 0.001808 | 0.084961 | 0.023682 | 0.177734 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.