1. An apparatus for the production of carbon-containing materials, the apparatus comprising:
an arc chamber;
a graphite element support for supporting a plurality of graphite elements in the arc chamber, wherein the graphite element support comprises a rotatable frame adapted for moving each graphite element towards and away from an arc discharge position; and
means for forming an arc in the arc chamber to effect vaporisation of material of a graphite element in the arc discharge position.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, which comprises a plurality of graphite element supports, each for supporting a plurality of graphite elements in the chamber.
3. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for supporting a secondary graphite element such that the arc passes between the secondary graphite element and one of said plurality of graphite elements in said position, wherein the secondary graphite element is optionally movable in the chamber.
4. (canceled)
5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising one or more graphite elements, wherein one or more graphite elements are optionally in the form of graphite rods.
6. (canceled)
7. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a graphite element is connected to a current source.
8. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a graphite element comprises graphitic carbon and a dopant.
9. An apparatus according to claim 5, which comprises graphite elements having a different composition.
10. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for applying at least a partial vacuum to the interior of the arc chamber or means for supplying a gas to the chamber.
11. (canceled)
12. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for advancing the graphite elements in the chamber during vaporisation, the apparatus optionally further comprising means for determining the relative position of the graphite elements in the chamber, the means for advancing the graphite elements being controlled on the basis of the determination.
13. (canceled)
14. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of electrodes, wherein each electrode is attachable to a graphite element in the chamber.
15. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises a collection chamber, wherein the collection chamber comprises an inlet for receiving carbon-containing material from the arc chamber, wherein
(i) the collection chamber optionally comprises a movable element arranged to direct the carbon-containing material to a wall of the collection chamber, wherein the movable element comprises a rotatable element arranged to direct the carbon-containing material to a wall of the collection chamber, wherein the sectional area occupied by the rotatable element increases with distance from the inlet; andor
(ii) the apparatus optionally further comprises means for isolating the collection chamber from the arc chamber and the collection chamber comprises an inlet for the introduction of solvent into the collection chamber, wherein the inlet is optionally arranged such that solvent can be introduced into the collection chamber under substantially anaerobic conditions.
16-19. (canceled)
20. A method of producing carbon-containing materials in an arc chamber, the method comprising:
supporting a plurality of graphite elements on a graphite element support in the chamber, wherein the graphite element support comprises a rotatable frame adapted for moving each graphite element towards and away from an arc discharge position;
rotating the frame such that a graphite element is moved towards the arc discharge position;
forming an arc in the chamber to effect vaporisation of material of the graphite element in the arc discharge position; and
rotating the frame such that said graphite element is moved away from the arc discharge position.
21. A method according to claim 20, wherein an arc is formed between said graphite element and a secondary graphite element supported in the chamber, wherein the secondary graphite element is optionally movable in the chamber.
22. (canceled)
23. A method according to claim 20, wherein a partial vacuum is applied to the interior of the arc chamber.
24. A method according to claim 20, further comprising introducing carbon-containing material from the arc chamber into a collection chamber, wherein
(i) the collection chamber optionally comprises a movable element arranged to direct the carbon-containing material to a wall of the collection chamber, wherein the movable element comprises a rotatable element arranged to direct the carbon-containing material to a wall of the collection chamber, wherein the sectional area occupied by the rotatable element increases with distance from the inlet; andor
(ii) the apparatus optionally further comprises means for isolating the collection chamber from the arc chamber and the collection chamber comprises an inlet for the introduction of solvent into the collection chamber, wherein the inlet is optionally arranged such that solvent can be introduced into the collection chamber under substantially anaerobic conditions.
25. (canceled)
26. A collection chamber for collecting carbon-containing material produced in an arc chamber, the collection chamber comprising:
an inlet for receiving carbon-containing material from the arc chamber; and
a rotatable element arranged to direct the carbon-containing material to a wall of the collection chamber, wherein the sectional area occupied by the rotatable element increases with distance from the inlet.
27-36. (canceled)
37. A method of collecting carbon-containing material produced in an arc chamber, the method comprising:
receiving carbon-containing material produced in the arc chamber in a collection chamber, wherein the collection chamber comprises an inlet through which the carbon-containing material is introduced and a rotatable element, wherein the sectional area occupied by the rotatable element increases with distance from the inlet; and
rotating the rotatable element such that the carbon-containing material is directed to a wall of the collection chamber.
38-39. (canceled)
40. A collection apparatus for collecting carbon-containing material produced in an arc discharge apparatus, the collection apparatus comprising:
a collection chamber for receiving carbon-containing material from the arc discharge apparatus;
means for isolating the collection chamber from the arc discharge apparatus; and
an inlet for the introduction of solvent into the collection chamber.
41-49. (canceled)
50. A method of collecting carbon-containing material produced in an arc discharge apparatus, the method comprising:
receiving carbon-containing material from the arc discharge apparatus in a collection chamber;
isolating the collection chamber from the arc discharge apparatus; and
introducing a solvent into the collection chamber.
51-58. (canceled)
59. An apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising:
a collection chamber, wherein the collection chamber comprises:
(i) an inlet for receiving carbon-containing material from the arc chamber;
(ii) a rotatable element arranged to direct the carbon-containing material to a wall of the collection chamber, wherein the sectional area occupied by the rotatable element increases with distance from the inlet;
(iii) means for isolating the collection chamber from the arc chamber; and
(iv) an inlet for the introduction of solvent into the collection chamber, wherein the solvent inlet is optionally arranged such that solvent can be introduced into the collection chamber under substantially anaerobic conditions.
60. (canceled)
61. A method according to claim 20 further comprising:
receiving carbon-containing material produced in the arc chamber in a collection chamber, wherein the collection chamber comprises an inlet through which the carbon-containing material is introduced and a rotatable element, wherein the sectional area occupied by the rotatable element increases with distance from the inlet;
rotating the rotatable element such that the carbon-containing material is directed to a wall of the collection chamber;
isolating the collection chamber from the arc discharge apparatus; and
introducing a solvent into the collection chamber, wherein the solvent is optionally introduced into the collection chamber under substantially anaerobic conditions.
62. (canceled)
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 system that facilitates assisted form filling, comprising:
a control component that receives untagged textual input information;
a parsing component that populates a subset of a form based, at least in part, upon the untagged textual information; and
a display component that displays the untagged textual information and the populated form.
2. The system of claim 1, the parsing component comprises an artificial intelligence (AI) component that makes inferences regarding populating the form based at least in part on the untagged textual information.
3. The system of claim 2, the AI component employs hidden Markov models (HMMs) to determine a proper field in the form into which parsed textual information can be entered.
4. The system of claim 1, the display component employs color to indicate compatibility between at least one parsed untagged textual element and at least on field in the form.
5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one status indicator that indicates a status level associated with at least one populated field in the form.
6. The system of claim 5, the at least one status indicator is colored according to a color code that indicates the status level of the at least one populated field in the form.
7. A method for assisted form filling comprising:
receiving untagged media;
parsing the untagged media to identify elements;
automatically populating a form with identified elements; and
displaying the untagged media and the populated form to a user.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising employing color to indicate that an identified element is compatible with a particular field in the form.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising employing at least one hidden Markov model (HMM) to determine an appropriate field into which an identified element can be entered.
10. The method of claim 7, further comprising indicating a status level associated at least one element in at least one field.
11. The method of claim 11, further comprising prompting the user to verify andor correct at least one element in at least one field if the status level associated with the at least one element in the at least one field is below a desired level.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating the populated form according to user verification andor correction of the at least one element in the at least one field.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising upgrading the status level associated with the at least one element based, at least in part, on user verification andor correction of the at least one element.
14. The method of claim 11, further comprising employing different colors to indicate different levels of status.
15. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing the populated form to a data store if confidence levels of all elements in all fields are above a desired confidence threshold.
16. A method for assisting a user to populate a form, comprising:
reading untagged media into an untagged media store;
reading side information into a side information store;
parsing untagged media to identify elements for populating a form;
writing identified elements to a form data store; and
displaying identified elements in fields of a form graphical user interface.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising displaying the untagged media with visual indicators in an untagged media graphical user interface.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the visual indicators are colors indicating compatibility of at least one identified element with at least one field in the form.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising indicating a confidence level associated with the element populating a given field.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein different status levels are indicated by different colors.
21. The method of claim 19, further comprising allowing a user to correct at least one field in the form if the field contains at least one error.
22. The method of claim 21, further comprising adding information gleaned from correction of the at least one field in the form to the side information store.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising re-parsing the untagged media after addition of information gleaned from the correction of the at least one field to propagate the correction of the at least one field to at least one other field.
24. The method of claim 16, further comprising permitting a user to verify that at least one element in at least one field is correct.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising adding information gleaned from verification of the at least one field in the form to the side information store.
26. The method of claim 25, further comprising re-parsing the untagged media after addition of information gleaned from the verification of the at least one field to propagate the correction of the at least one field to at least one other field.
27. The method of claim 16, further comprising writing the contents of the form data store to a file if no errors are present in the form.
28. A system for reducing errors and time required in form filling, comprising:
means for receiving untagged media input;
means for parsing untagged media;
means for populating a form with parsed untagged media; and
means for concurrently displaying untagged media and the populated form.
29. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for indicating a status level associated with at least one field in the populated form.
30. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for correcting andor verifying at least one field in the populated form.
31. The system of claim 28, further comprising means for indicating compatibility between parsed untagged media elements and fields in the form.
32. A computer readable medium that has computer executable instructions stored thereon to:
receive untagged media;
parse untagged media to identify elements
populate fields in a form with identified elements;
indicate a status associated with populated fields in the form; and
permit correction andor verification of elements in fields in the populated form.