1. A radiation monitoring system, comprising:
one or more scintillating fibers for generating photons responsive to exposure to radiation in proximity to one or more of a length and a proximate end of the one or more scintillating fibers;
a photon-sensing device operably coupled to a distal end of each of the one or more scintillating fibers for sensing photons from the one or more scintillating fibers;
an extremity protection device comprising:
one or more individual fiber sleeves, each individual fiber sleeve for holding a corresponding one of the one or more scintillating fibers substantially close to a an extremity; and
a collector pocket for holding the photon-sensing device substantially near the extremity.
2. The radiation monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the extremity protection device comprises a glove to be worn on a hand of a person such that each of the one or more scintillating fibers is held substantially close to a finger of the glove and the corresponding proximate end is held substantially near a fingertip of the glove.
3. The radiation monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the photon-sensing device comprises a photomultiplier tube.
4. The radiation monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the photon-sensing device comprises one or more photodiodes.
5. The radiation monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the photon sensing device is operably coupled to a distal end of a plurality of the one or more scintillating fibers for sensing photons from the plurality of the one or more scintillating fibers.
6. The radiation monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the photon-sensing device is configured for generating an electrical signal responsive to the sensed photons and the radiation dose monitoring system further comprises:
a photon signal analyzer operably coupled to the photon-sensing device and configured to generate a dose signal responsive to an analysis of the electrical signal; and
a dose indicator for presenting a warning to a user responsive to the dose signal.
7. The radiation monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the dose indicator is configured to indicate a dose rate above a predetermined threshold.
8. The radiation monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the dose indicator is configured to indicate a cumulative dose above a predetermined threshold.
9. The radiation monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the photon signal analyzer further comprises:
a discriminator operably coupled to the photon-sensing device; and
a multi-channel analyzer operably coupled to the discriminator, wherein the multi-channel analyzer is configured to generate the dose signal.
10. The radiation monitoring system of claim 9, wherein the discriminator comprises a constant fraction discriminator.
11. The radiation monitoring system of claim 6, further comprising a computing system operably coupled to the photon signal analyzer and wherein the computing system and the photon signal analyzer are cooperatively associated to perform the analysis of the electrical signal to generate the dose signal.
12. The radiation monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the photon signal analyzer and the computing system are wirelessly communicable.
13. A method of monitoring a radiation, the method comprising:
sensing radiation proximate a glove on a hand of a person with one or more scintillating fibers held by one or more individual fiber sleeves, each individual fiber sleeve disposed on a corresponding finger of the glove;
generating photons responsive to the one or more scintillating fibers exposure to the radiation;
generating an electrical signal with a photon-sensing device held on a forearm portion of the glove responsive to the sensed photons; and
evaluating a radiation dose level responsive to the electrical signal.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising presenting a dose indicator to a user responsive to the evaluating the radiation dose level.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein presenting the dose indicator comprises presenting a dose rate above a predetermined threshold.
16. The method of claim 14, presenting the dose indicator comprises presenting a cumulative dose above a predetermined threshold.
17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
performing a discrimination on the electrical signal; and
processing the electrical signal with a multi-channel analyzer to perform the evaluating the radiation level.
18. A radiation monitoring glove, comprising:
a glove adapted to be worn by a person;
one or more fiber sleeves attached to one or more fingers of the glove;
one or more scintillating fibers disposed at least in part in the one or more fiber sleeves, the one or more scintillating fibers configured for generating photons responsive to exposure to radiation in proximity thereto;
a photon-sensing device disposed in a collector pocket on the glove and operably coupled to a distal end of the one or more scintillating fibers.
19. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 18, wherein the one or more fiber sleeves are adapted and positioned to enable the one or more scintillating fibers to slide freely therein as the one or more fingers of the glove move.
20. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 18, further comprising a dose indicator disposed on the glove and configured for notifying the person wearing the glove of an anomalous dose indicated by a dose signal received by the dose indicator.
21. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 20, further comprising a photon signal analyzer operably coupled to the photon-sensing device, disposed in the collector pocket, and configured for generating the dose signal.
22. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 20, wherein the dose indicator indicates at least one of a total dosage and a dose rate.
23. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 18, further comprising a photon signal analyzer operably coupled to the photon-sensing device, disposed in the collector pocket, and configured for analyzing an electrical signal from the photon-sensing device.
24. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 18, wherein:
the one or more fiber sleeves comprises multiple fiber sleeves with one or more fiber holder attached to each of five fingers of the gloves;
the one or more scintillating fibers comprises multiple scintillating fibers, one or more associated with each of the multiple fiber sleeves; and
the photon-sensing device is operably coupled to the distal ends of each of the five scintillating fibers.
25. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 24, further comprising a fiber collector attached to the glove near a wrist portion and on a back-of-hand side of the glove for collecting the multiple scintillating fibers together before reaching the collector pocket.
26. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 24, further comprising a fiber collector attached to the glove near a wrist portion and on a palm side of the glove for collecting the multiple scintillating fibers together before reaching the collector pocket.
27. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 24, wherein the fiber sleeves are disposed on a palm side of the glove.
28. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 24, wherein the fiber sleeves are disposed on a back-of-hand side of the glove.
29. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 24, wherein each of the five fiber sleeves are disposed on a side of a finger of the glove.
30. The radiation monitoring glove of claim 24, wherein at least one of the one or more fiber sleeves includes more than one of the one or more scintillating fibers disposed therein.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A user-interface method of searching among multiple documents and searching for subsections within individual documents using a single search interface on an input-constrained user device having a screen and a keypad, the method comprising:
displaying, in a first portion of the screen, a user interface text input component operable to receive search query input entered using the keypad;
receiving search query input entered into the text input component by a user of the device;
receiving, responsive to the received query input, a set of document index section indicators, wherein each document index section indicator uniquely identifies a specific point within an associated document and is associated with a subsection within said associated document, wherein the subsection associated with the specific point matches at least a portion of the query input, and wherein the set of document index section indicators includes a first document index section indicator associated with a first document and a second document index section indicator associated with a second document, the first document and the second document being different documents;
receiving, responsive to the received query input, a set of document pointers, where each pointer uniquely identifies a document;
displaying, in a second portion of the screen, said document index section indicators and document pointers;
receiving browse actions from the user to browse through and to select one of said document index section indicators and document pointers;
displaying, if a document index section indicator is selected, the identified document, beginning at the identified point within said document so that the user is presented with the subsection within said document that is relatively more relevant to the query input without having to first scan through one or more other subsections within said document that are relatively less relevant to the query input, or displaying, if a document pointer is selected, the beginning of the identified document;
setting, responsive to the document selection, a query context that includes at least one document context associated with the selected document, wherein the document context represents an attribute of the selected document;
subsequent to displaying the selected document, receiving subsequent search query input entered into the text input component by the user of the device; and
displaying, responsive to the subsequent search query input and the set query context, a first set of document index section indicators for the selected document and a second set of document index section indicators for an unselected document in the second portion of the screen.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the received document index section indicators point to documents that have been previously selected by the user.
4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document, where said document has been previously selected by the user.
5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying indicators adjacent to the displayed document pointers, in order to distinguish the displayed document pointers from the displayed document index section indicators.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the keypad is an overloaded keypad.
7. A user-interface method of incrementally searching among multiple documents and incrementally searching for subsections within individual documents using a single incremental search interface on an input-constrained user device having a screen and a keypad, the method comprising:
displaying, in a first portion of the screen, a user interface text input component operable to receive incremental keystrokes entered using the keypad;
receiving a sequence of incremental keystrokes entered into the text input component by a user of the device, wherein the sequence of incremental keystrokes represents a search query input;
in response to each incremental keystroke of the sequence of incremental keystrokes, receiving a set of document index section indicators, wherein each document index section indicator uniquely identifies a specific point within a document associated with a subsection within said document, and wherein the subsection associated with the specific point matches at least a portion of the sequence of incremental keystrokes;
in response to each incremental keystroke of the sequence of incremental keystrokes, receiving a set of document pointers, where each pointer uniquely identifies a document;
displaying, in a second portion of the screen, said document index section indicators and document pointers;
receiving browse actions from the user to browse through and to select one of said document index section indicators and document pointers;
displaying, if a document index section indicator is selected, the identified document, beginning at the identified point within said document so that the user is presented with the subsection within said document that is relatively more relevant to the matched portion of the sequence of incremental keystrokes without having to first scan through one or more other subsections within said document that are relatively less relevant to the matched portion of the sequence of incremental keystrokes, or displaying, if a document pointer is selected, the beginning of the identified document;
setting, responsive to the document selection, a query context that includes at least one document context associated with the selected document, wherein the document context represents an attribute of the selected document;
subsequent to displaying the selected document, receiving a subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes entered into the text input component by the user of the device, wherein the subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes represents a subsequent search query input; and
in response to each incremental keystroke of the subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes, displaying a first set of document index section indicators for the selected document and a second set of document index section indicators for an unselected document in the second portion of the screen based on the set query context and at least a portion of the subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes.
8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising generating each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document.
9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the received document index section indicators point to documents that have been previously selected by the user.
10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising generating each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document, where said document has been previously selected by the user.
11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising displaying indicators adjacent to the displayed document pointers, in order to distinguish the displayed document pointers from the displayed document index section indicators.
12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the keypad is an overloaded keypad.
13. A system for searching among multiple documents and searching for subsections within individual documents using a single search interface on an input-constrained user device having a screen and a keypad, the system comprising:
computer memory store comprising instructions in computer readable form that when executed cause a computer system to:
display, in a first portion of the screen, a user interface text input component operable to receive search query input entered using the keypad;
receive search query input entered into the text input component by a user of the device;
receive, responsive to the received query input, a set of document index section indicators, wherein each document index section indicator uniquely identifies a specific point within an associated document and is associated with a subsection within said associated document, wherein the subsection associated with the specific point matches at least a portion of the query input, and wherein the set of document index section indicators includes a first document index section indicator associated with a first document and a second document index section indicator associated with a second document, the first document and the second document being different documents;
receive, responsive to the received query input, a set of document pointers, where each pointer uniquely identifies a document;
display, in a second portion of the screen, said document index section indicators and document pointers;
receive browse actions from the user to browse through and to select one of said document index section indicators and document pointers;
display, if a document index section indicator is selected, the identified document, beginning at the identified point within said document so that the user is presented with the subsection within said document that is relatively more relevant to the query input without having to first scan through one or more other subsections within said document that are relatively less relevant to the query input, or displaying, if a document pointer is selected, the beginning of the identified document;
set, responsive to the document selection, a query context that includes at least one document context associated with the selected document, wherein the document context represents an attribute of the selected document;
subsequent to displaying the selected document, receive subsequent search query input entered into the text input component by the user of the device; and
display, responsive to the subsequent search query input and the set query context, a first set of document index section indicators for the selected document and a second set of document index section indicators for an unselected document in the second portion of the screen.
14. The system according to claim 13, the computer memory store further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to generate each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document.
15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the received document index section indicators point to documents that have been previously selected by the user.
16. The system according to claim 13, the computer memory store further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to generate each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document, where said document has been previously selected by the user.
17. The system according to claim 13, the computer memory store further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to display indicators adjacent to the displayed document pointers, in order to distinguish the displayed document pointers from the displayed document index section indicators.
18. The system according to claim 13, wherein the keypad is an overloaded keypad.
19. A system for incrementally searching among multiple documents and incrementally searching for subsections within individual documents using a single incremental search interface on an input-constrained user device having a screen and a keypad, the system comprising:
computer memory store comprising instructions in computer readable form that when executed cause a computer system to:
display, in a first portion of the screen, a user interface text input component operable to receive incremental keystrokes entered using the keypad;
receive a sequence of incremental keystrokes entered into the text input component by a user of the device, wherein the sequence of incremental keystrokes represents a search query input;
in response to each incremental keystroke of the sequence of incremental keystrokes, receive a set of document index section indicators, wherein each document index section indicator uniquely identifies a specific point within a document associated with a subsection within said document, and wherein the subsection associated with the specific point matches at least a portion of the sequence of incremental keystrokes;
in response to each incremental keystroke of the sequence of incremental keystrokes, receive a set of document pointers, where each pointer uniquely identifies a document;
display, in a second portion of the screen, said document index section indicators and document pointers;
receive browse actions from the user to browse through and to select one of said document index section indicators and document pointers;
display, if a document index section indicator is selected, the identified document, beginning at the identified point within said document so that the user is presented with the subsection within said document that is relatively more relevant to the matched portion of the sequence of incremental keystrokes without having to first scan through one or more other subsections within said document that are relatively less relevant to the matched portion of the sequence of incremental keystrokes, or displaying, if a document pointer is selected, the beginning of the identified document;
set, responsive to the document selection, a query context that includes at least one document context associated with the selected document, wherein the document context represents an attribute of the selected document;
subsequent to displaying the selected document, receive a subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes entered into the text input component by the user of the device, wherein the subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes represents a subsequent search query input; and
in response to each incremental keystroke of the subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes, display a first set of document index section indicators for the selected document and a second set of document index section indicators for an unselected document in the second portion of the screen based on the set query context and at least a portion of the subsequent sequence of incremental keystrokes.
20. The system according to claim 19, the computer memory store further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to generate each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document.
21. The system according to claim 19, wherein the received document index section indicators point to documents that have been previously selected by the user.
22. The system according to claim 19, the computer memory store further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to generate each of the document index section indicators by retrieving the contents of a document and inferring the structure of said document, where said document has been previously selected by the user.
23. The system according to claim 19, the computer memory store further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to display indicators adjacent to the displayed document pointers, in order to distinguish the displayed document pointers from the displayed document index section indicators.
24. The system according to claim 19, wherein the keypad is an overloaded keypad.