1. An apparatus comprising:
a cage of a fluid regulator, the cage having a central aperture;
a valve stem to be received by the central aperture; and
a diaphragm coupled to the valve stem, wherein an integral protrusion of the cage is to constrain a peripheral edge of the diaphragm against a removable portion of a valve body when the cage is coupled to the valve body.
2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising a second integral protrusion to be received by a recess of the valve body to constrain the cage relative to the valve body.
3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the central aperture has a first shape and the stem has a second shape complementary to the first shape to prevent rotation of the stem.
4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the first and second shapes comprise hex shapes, square shapes, pentagonal shapes, oval, or triangular shapes.
5. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the cage comprises first and second removable portions to access a sealing disc, the first and second removable portions on opposite sides of the cage.
6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising first and second discs coupled to the valve stem, the second disc to engage a spring to affect the motion of the first disc relative to an orifice.
7. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, the cage further comprising a threaded portion to receive a valve stem guide to align the valve stem.
8. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the central aperture aligns the valve stem.
9. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the valve stem has a removable stem portion threadably coupled to the valve stem.
10. An apparatus comprising:
a valve body of a fluid regulator;
a cage disposed in the valve body, the cage to engage a diaphragm;
a valve stem to move along a central aperture of the cage; and
a removable portion of the valve body at a first end of the valve body where the stem enters the valve body, the removal of the removable portion to allow access to a first sealing disc from the first end.
11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising a second removable portion at a second end of the valve body to allow access to the first sealing disc from the second end, the second end opposite the first end.
12. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein removing the removable portion allows removal of the cage from the valve body.
13. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein a peripheral edge of a diaphragm is captured between the removable portion and the cage.
14. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein the cage further comprises a protrusion on an external surface of the cage to be received by an aperture of the valve body.
15. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising a second sealing disc coupled to the valve stem, the second sealing disc to engage a seat ring when a shaft of a slam-shut device is rotated.
16. A method comprising:
removing a removable portion of a valve body, the removable portion on a first end of the valve body where a stem is to enter the valve body;
removing a cage from the valve body through a first aperture provided by the removal of the removable portion, wherein a second aperture of the cage aligns the stem; and
accessing a sealing disc of the valve body via the first aperture.
17. The method as defined in claim 16, wherein removing the removable portion and removing the cage occurs simultaneously.
18. The method as defined in claim 16, further comprising removing a portion of the stem to access the disc.
19. The method as defined in claim 16, further comprising removing the sealing disc from the valve body via the first aperture.
20. The method as defined in claim 16, wherein the valve body further comprises a second removable portion on a second end of the valve body opposite the first end.
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 speech synthesis system implemented using at least one hardware implemented processor, the system comprising:
a speech segment database referencing speech segments having a plurality of different types of speech representational structures including:
i. statistical state model based speech signals, and
ii. template based speech signals;
a speech segment selector for selecting from the speech segment database a sequence of statistical state model based and template based speech segment candidates corresponding to a target text;
a speech segment sequencer for generating from the speech segment candidates sequenced statistical state model based and template based speech segments corresponding to the target text; and
a speech segment synthesizer for combining the sequenced statistical state model based and template based speech segments to produce a synthesized speech signal output corresponding to the target text.
2. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the different types of speech representational structures include statistical state model-based speech signals augmented with template information.
3. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment selector uses a statistical state model for selecting the speech segment candidates.
4. A speech synthesis system according to claim 3, wherein the speech segment selector uses template information to augment the statistical state model.
5. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the different types of speech representational structures share at least one parameter component.
6. A speech synthesis system according to claim 5, wherein the shared parameter component is encoded differently in different speech representational structures.
7. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment sequencer uses static observations in generating the sequenced speech segments.
8. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment sequencer uses observations from the speech segment selector in generating the sequenced speech segments.
9. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment sequencer uses static observations and observations from the speech segment selector in generating the sequenced speech segments.
10. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment selector uses statistically derived cost-functions for selecting the speech segment candidates.
11. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment sequencer uses statistically derived cost-functions for generating the sequenced speech segments.
12. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment selector uses empirical rules for selecting the speech segment candidates.
13. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment sequencer uses empirical rules for generating the sequenced speech segments.
14. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment selector uses psycho-acoustic rules for selecting the speech segment candidates.
15. A speech synthesis system according to claim 1, wherein the speech segment sequencer uses psycho-acoustic rules for generating the sequenced speech segments.
16. A speech synthesis system according to claim 10, wherein the statistically derived cost-functions are based on sequences of speech segment observations.
17. A speech synthesis system according to claim 16, wherein the sequences of speech segment observations are described by a Markov process.
18. A speech synthesis system according to claim 11, wherein the statistically derived cost-functions are based on sequences of speech segment observations.
19. A speech synthesis system according to claim 18, wherein the sequences of speech segment observations are described by a Markov process.
20. A method of speech synthesis comprising:
with a system implemented using at least one hardware implemented processor:
referencing in a speech segment database speech segments having a plurality of different types of speech representational structures including:
i. statistical state model based speech signals, and
ii. template based speech signals;
selecting from the speech segment database a sequence of statistical state model based and template based speech segment candidates corresponding to a target text;
generating from the speech segment candidates sequenced statistical state model based and template based speech segments corresponding to the target text; and
combining the sequenced statistical state model based and template based speech segments to produce a synthesized speech signal output corresponding to the target text.
21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the different types of speech representational structures include statistical state model-based speech signals augmented with template information.
22. A method according to claim 20, wherein a statistical state speech model is used in selecting the sequence of speech segment candidates.
23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the statistical state speech model is augmented by template information.
24. A method according to claim 20, wherein the different types of speech representational structures share at least one parameter component.
25. A method according to claim 24, wherein the shared parameter component is encoded differently in different speech representational structures.
26. A method according to claim 20, wherein static observations are used in generating the sequenced speech segments.
27. A method according to claim 20, wherein observations from the selecting the sequence of speech segment candidates are used in the generating the sequenced speech segments.
28. A method according to claim 20, wherein static observations and observations from the selecting the sequence of speech segment candidates are used in the generating the sequenced speech segments.
29. A method according to claim 20, wherein statistically derived cost-functions are used for selecting the speech segment candidates.
30. A method according to claim 20, wherein statistically derived cost-functions are used for generating the sequenced speech segments.
31. A method according to claim 20, wherein empirical rules are used for selecting the speech segment candidates.
32. A method according to claim 20, wherein empirical rules are used for generating the sequenced speech segments.
33. A method according to claim 20, wherein psycho-acoustic rules are used for selecting the speech segment candidates.
34. A method according to claim 20, wherein psycho-acoustic rules are used for generating the sequenced speech segments.
35. A method according to claim 29, wherein the statistically derived cost-functions are based on sequences of speech segment observations.
36. A method according to claim 35, wherein the sequences of speech segment observations are described by a Markov process.
37. A method according to claim 30, wherein the statistically derived cost-functions are based on sequences of speech segment observations.
38. A method according to claim 37, wherein the sequences of speech segment observations are described by a Markov process.