1. A valve assembly including:
a valve housing;
a valve body movable within said housing, said valve body having a land to selectively communicate a supply port in said valve housing to an outlet port; and
a piezoelectric bending element for moving said valve body to selectively communicate said supply port to said outlet port, and said piezoelectric bending element moving said valve body by restricting or opening flow through at least one piloting nozzle in the valve body.
2. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein said piezoelectric bending element is mounted at a central location on said valve body.
3. A valve assembly including:
a valve housing;
a valve body movable within said housing, said valve body having a land to selectively communicate a supply port in said valve housing to an outlet port;
a piezoelectric bending element for moving said valve body to selectively communicate said supply port to said outlet port;
said valve body includes a pair of body portions each having a piloting nozzle with said piloting nozzles positioned on opposed sides of said piezoelectric bending element, a pair of said lands, with each land associated with an outlet port.
4. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 3, wherein said piezoelectric bending element has a remote end that bends toward one of the piloting nozzles to restrict said one of said piloting nozzles, and hydraulic forces within said valve housing then adjust said valve body to move in the direction that said piezoelectric bending element has bent.
5. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 4, wherein a high pressure supply fluid moves through the piloting nozzles, which are defined in said valve body, to a remote chamber, and said piezoelectric bending element restricting one of said piloting nozzles when it has been bent by said actuator.
6. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein there are a pair of said outlet ports, a pair of return ports, and said piezoelectric bending element moving said valve body to selectively control the communication of said outlet ports to respective ones of said return lines, and a chamber communicating with the supply port.
7. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein there are a pair of said outlet ports, a pair of supply ports, and said piezoelectric bending element moving said valve body to selectively control the communication of said outlet ports to respective ones of said supply ports, and a chamber communicating with a return port.
8. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric bending element is a multi-layer bending element.
9. A valve assembly including:
a valve housing;
a valve body movable within said valve housing, said valve body having a pair of lands to selectively communicate a supply port in said valve housing to a pair of outlet ports;
a piezoelectric bending element for moving said valve body to selectively communicate said supply port to one of said outlet ports, and an actuator causing said piezoelectric bending element to bend;
said piezoelectric bending element mounted at a central location on said valve body;
said valve body includes a pair of body portions each having a piloting nozzle, with said piloting nozzles positioned on opposed sides of said piezoelectric bending element, said piezoelectric bending element having a remote end that bends toward one of the piloting nozzles to restrict said one of said piloting nozzles, and hydraulic forces within said valve housing then adjusting said valve body to move in the direction that said piezoelectric bending element has bent; and
a supply fluid moving through the piloting nozzles to a remote chamber, and said piezoelectric bending element restricting one of said piloting nozzles when it has been bent by said actuator.
10. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 9, wherein said piezoelectric bending element has a control remote from said remote end.
11. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 9, wherein the piezoelectric bending element is a multi-layer bending element.
12. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 9, wherein there are a pair of supply ports, and said actuator moving said valve body to selectively control the communication of said outlet ports to respective ones of said supply lines, and a chamber communicating with a return port.
13. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 12, wherein said return port communicates with a central chamber, and said remote end of said piezoelectric bending element extending its said central chamber.
14. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 9, wherein there are a pair of return ports, and said actuator moving said valve body to selectively control the communication of said outlet ports to respective ones of said return lines, and a chamber communicating with the supply port.
15. The valve assembly as set forth in claim 14, wherein said supply port communicates with a central chamber, and said remote end of said piezoelectric bending element extending into said central chamber.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1-27. (canceled)
28. A method of collecting data for a geographic database comprising the steps of:
collecting data while making deliveries of items to locations of addresses in a geographic area, wherein said step of collecting data includes:
making deliveries of the items to the locations of addresses in the geographic area;
using positioning equipment to determine a geographic position associated with each delivery; and
storing data by which the geographic position associated with each delivery is related to an address associated with the item being delivered; and
revising the geographic database based on a relationship between the geographic positions associated with the deliveries and the addresses associated with the items being delivered.
29. The method of claim 28 further comprising:
using a portable code recording device to record a code associated with an item being delivered, wherein the code associated with an item is related to the address to which the item is to be delivered; and
using the code to relate the address to which an item is delivered to the geographic position associated with the delivery.
30. The method of claim 29 wherein the code is affixed to the item being delivered.
31. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of making deliveries is performed by a delivery company and the step of revising the geographic database is performed by a geographic database developer.
32. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of making deliveries is performed using delivery trucks.
33. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of revising includes updating address ranges associated with road segments represented in the geographic database.
34. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of revising includes associating geographic coordinates with addresses to provide improved estimates of address locations.
35. The method of claim 28 further comprising:
prior to the step of revising, performing statistical analysis on data representing multiple deliveries of items to the same address.
36. A method of collecting data for a geographic database comprising the steps of:
collecting data while making deliveries of items to locations in a geographic area, wherein the locations are associated with identifying information, wherein said step of collecting data includes:
making deliveries of the items to the locations in the geographic area;
using positioning equipment to determine a geographic position associated with each delivery; and
storing data by which the geographic position associated with each delivery is related to the identifying information associated with the location to which the item is being delivered; and
revising the geographic database based on a relationship between the geographic positions associated with the deliveries and the identifying information associated with the locations to which the items are delivered.
37. The method of claim 36 wherein the identifying information includes at least one of vanity addresses, building or location names, business names, individual person names, facility names, and administrative names.
38. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
using a portable code recording device to record a code associated with an item being delivered, wherein the code associated with an item is related to the identifying information associated with the location to which the item is delivered; and
using the code to relate the identifying information associated with the location to which an item is delivered to the geographic position associated with the delivery.
39. The method of claim 38 wherein the code is affixed to the item being delivered.
40. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of making deliveries is performed by a delivery company and the step of revising the geographic database is performed by a geographic database developer.
41. The method of claim 36 wherein the positioning equipment is associated with a delivery truck used to make the deliveries.
42. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of revising includes associating geographic coordinates with the identifying information.
43. The method of claim 36 further comprising:
prior to the step of revising, performing statistical analysis on data representing multiple deliveries of items to the same location.
44. A method of collecting data for a geographic database comprising the steps of:
collecting data while making deliveries of items to locations of addresses in a geographic area, wherein said step of collecting data includes:
making deliveries of items to the locations of addresses in the geographic area;
using positioning equipment to determine a geographic position associated with each delivery; and
storing data by which the geographic position associated with each delivery is related to an address associated with the item being delivered; and
providing the collected data to a geographic database developer for revising the geographic database based on a relationship between the geographic positions associated with the deliveries and the addresses associated with the items being delivered.
45. A method of revising a geographic database comprising the steps of:
obtaining data collected by a delivery company, wherein the delivery company collects the data while making deliveries of items to locations of addresses in a geographic area, wherein the delivery company uses positioning equipment to determine a geographic position associated with each delivery and stores data by which the geographic position associated with each delivery is related to an address associated with the item being delivered; and
revising the geographic database based on a relationship between the geographic positions associated with the deliveries and the addresses associated with the items being delivered.
46. A method of revising a geographic database comprising the steps of:
obtaining data collected by a delivery company, wherein the delivery company collects the data while making deliveries of items to locations in a geographic area, wherein the delivery company uses positioning equipment to determine a geographic position associated with each delivery and stores data by which the geographic position associated with each delivery is related to identifying information associated with the item being delivered; and
revising the geographic database based on a relationship between the geographic positions associated with the deliveries and the identifying information associated with the items being delivered.
47. The method of claim 46 wherein the identifying information includes at least one of vanity addresses, building or location names, business names, individual person names, facility names, and administrative names.