What is claimed is:
1. A storage device for use with a host computer, the device comprising:
at least one rotatable disc having a disc surface with a plurality of physical memory locations, the physical memory locations including data storage locations and attribute storage locations, the attribute storage locations storing protection status information corresponding to data storage locations, wherein the protection status information indicates whether the data storage locations can be written to;
a spindle motor coupled to the disc;
a head configured to read information from the physical memory locations and write information to the physical memory locations;
an actuator which supports the head over the disc surface; and
a disc controller coupled to the spindle motor and the actuator, the controller configured to exchange information with the host computer through an ATA data exchange protocol, to thereby receive write protection commands compatible with the ATA data exchange protocol relating to the write protection status information of at least one physical memory location, and in response executing the write protection commands to implement a write protection scheme compatible with the ATA data exchange protocol.
2. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive an update write protection command compatible with ATA data exchange protocol from the host computer and responsively change the protection status information of at least one physical memory location.
3. The storage device of claim 1 wherein the controller is further adapted to receive an Identify Drive ATA command from the host computer and responsively provide protection status information to the host computer.
4. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further adapted to read protection status information from the attribute storage locations into a disc buffer memory upon boot-up.
5. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further adapted to update a disc buffer memory when updating the attribute storage locations to reflect changes made to protection status information.
6. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to respond to write protection commands only if provided with an appropriate password.
7. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the storage device operates in accordance with ATA-5 specifications.
8. A method of write protecting a storage device having at least one rotatable disc with a disc surface having a plurality of physical memory locations, the physical memory locations including data storage locations and attribute storage locations, the attribute storage locations storing protection status information corresponding to data storage locations, wherein the protection status information indicates whether the data storage locations can be written to, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving, in the storage device, ATA compatible write protection commands from the host computer relating to the write protection status information of at least one physical memory location; and
(b) executing the write protection commands in the storage device to implement an ATA data exchange protocol compatible write protection scheme.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving write protection commands step (a) includes receiving an ATA compatible update write protection command from the host computer, and executing the write protection commands step (b) includes changing the protection status information of at least one physical memory location in response to receiving the ATA compatible update write protection command.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving write protection commands step (a) includes receiving an Identify Drive ATA command from the host computer, and executing the write protection command commands step (b) includes providing protection status information to the host computer in response to the Identify Drive ATA command.
11. The method of claim 8, further comprising reading protection status information from the attribute storage locations into a disc buffer memory upon boot-up.
12. The method of claim 8, further comprising updating a disc buffer memory when updating the attribute storage locations to reflect changes made to protection status information.
13. The method of claim 8, further comprising responding to write protection commands only if provided with an appropriate password.
14. The method of claim 8, wherein the storage device operates in accordance with ATA-5 specifications.
15. A storage device comprising:
means for reading data from and writing data to at least one disc of the storage device; and
means for implementing an ATA compatible write protection scheme.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
We claim:
1. A method of producing a chewing gum product containing a physically-modified bitterness inhibitor in order to control the release rate of the bitterness inhibitor comprising the steps of:
a) mixing a quantity of a bitterness inhibitor with a modifying agent;
b) adding a quantity of the mixture and a bitter medicament to a chewing gum formulation to provide a bitterness inhibitor level in the chewing gum formulation of from about 0.05% to about 8.0%.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said modifying agent is an encapsulating agent.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the bitterness inhibitor and encapsulating agent are also mixed with a solvent and the resulting mixture is dried prior to being added to the chewing gum.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the encapsulating material is selected from the group consisting of maltodextrin and gum arabic.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein the mixture is spray dried and the solvent is selected from the group consisting of alcohol and water.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein a high-potency sweetener selected from the group consisting of aspartame, alitame, salts of acesulfame, cyclamate and its salts, saccharine and its salts, thaumatin, monellin, dihydrochalcones and combinations thereof is mixed in the mixture in combination with the bitterness inhibitor.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of ferulic acid, sodium gluconate, sodium ferulate, sodium ascorbate, sodium acetate, sodium glycinate and calcium glycerolphosphate.
8. The method of claim 2 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is fluid-bed coated with a solution of encapsulating agent and solvent in order to decrease the rate of release of the bitterness inhibitor in the chewing gum.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the solvent is selected from the group consisting of alcohol and water.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein the encapsulating material is selected from the group consisting of shellac and Zein.
11. The method of claim 8 wherein a high-potency sweetener selected from the group consisting of aspartame, alitame, salts of acesulfame, cyclamate and its salts, saccharin and its salts, thaumatin, monellin, dihydrochalcones and combinations thereof is mixed in the mixture in combination with the bitterness inhibitor.
12. The method of claim 8 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of ferulic acid, sodium gluconate, sodium ferulate, sodium ascorbate, sodium acetate, sodium glycinate and calcium glycerol phosphate.
13. The method of claim 2 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is encapsulated by coacervation in order to decrease the rate of release of bitterness inhibitor in chewing gum.
14. The method of claim 2 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is mixed with a molten encapsulating agent and the bitterness inhibitor is encapsulated by spray chilling in order to decrease the rate of release of the bitterness inhibitor in the chewing gum.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the encapsulating agent comprises wax.
16. The method of claim 2 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is mixed with a polymer as the encapsulating agent and the resulting mixture is extruded into fibers in such a way as to encapsulate the bitterness inhibitor in order to decrease the rate of release of the bitterness inhibitor in the chewing gum.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of PVAC, hydroxypropyl cellulose, polyethylene and plastic polymers.
18. A method of producing a chewing gum containing a physically-modified bitterness inhibitor in order to control the release rate of the bitterness inhibitor comprising the steps of:
a) mixing a quantity of the bitterness inhibitor with an agglomerating agent and a solvent to partially coat the bitterness inhibitor;
b) removing the solvent from the mixture of bitterness inhibitor and agglomerating agent to form a dried material; and
c) adding a quantity of the dried material and a bitter medicament to a chewing gum formulation to provide a bitterness inhibitor level in gum of from about 0.05% to about 8.0%.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the level of coating on the agglomerated bitterness inhibitor is at least about 5%.
20. The method of claim 18 wherein the level of coating on the agglomerated bitterness inhibitor is at least about 15%.
21. The method of claim 18 wherein the level of coating on the agglomerated bitterness inhibitor is at least about 20%.
22. The method of claim 18 wherein the dried material is ground to a powder prior to adding the dried material to the chewing gum.
23. The method of claim 1 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is mixed with an absorbent as the modifying agent.
24. A method of producing a chewing gum product containing a bitterness inhibitor and a bitter medicament comprising the steps of providing a chewing gum product and adding a bitter medicament and a bitterness inhibitor to said product, wherein the bitterness inhibitor is added as a part of a rolling compound applied on the chewing gum product.
25. A method of producing a chewing gum product containing a bitterness inhibitor and a bitter medicament comprising the steps of providing a chewing gum pellet and adding a bitter medicament and a bitterness inhibitor to said product, wherein the bitterness inhibitor is added as a part of a coating on a chewing gum pellet and wherein the bitter medicament is added as part of said pellet, said coating, or both said pellet and said coating.
26. The method of claim 1 wherein the bitterness inhibitor comprises sodium gluconate.
27. A chewing gum product made according to the method of claim 1.
28. The method of claim 1 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of glucono delta lactone; sodium gluconate; potassium gluconate; calcium chloride; neodiosmin; cyclotetradecenones; sclareolide; natural soy flavor; N-sulfomethyl-N-arylureas; sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of ferulic acid and caffeic acid; 2, 4-dihydroxy benzoic acid; ferulic acid; sodium ascorbate; sodium acetate; sodium glycinate; calcium glycerolphosphate; sodium glycerolphosphate and mixtures thereof.
29. The method of claim 18 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of glucono delta lactone; sodium gluconate; potassium gluconate; calcium chloride; neodiosmin; cyclotetradecenones; sclareolide; natural soy flavor; N-sulfomethyl-N-arylureas; sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of ferulic acid and caffeic acid; 2, 4-dihydroxy benzoic acid; ferulic acid; sodium ascorbate; sodium acetate; sodium glycinate; calcium glycerolphosphate; sodium glycerolphosphate and mixtures thereof.
30. The method of claim 24 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of glucono delta lactone; sodium gluconate; potassium gluconate; calcium chloride; neodiosmin; cyclotetradecenones; sclareolide; natural soy flavor; N-sulfomethyl-N-arylureas; sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of ferulic acid and caffeic acid; 2, 4-dihydroxy benzoic acid; ferulic acid; sodium ascorbate; sodium acetate; sodium glycinate; calcium glycerolphosphate; sodium glycerolphosphate and mixtures thereof.
31. The method of claim 25 wherein the bitterness inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of glucono delta lactone; sodium gluconate; potassium gluconate; calcium chloride; neodiosmin; cyclotetradecenones; sclareolide; natural soy flavor; N-sulfomethyl-N-arylureas; sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of ferulic acid and caffeic acid; 2, 4-dihydroxy benzoic acid; ferulic acid; sodium ascorbate; sodium acetate; sodium glycinate; calcium glycerolphosphate; sodium glycerolphosphate and mixtures thereof.
32. The method of claim 1 wherein the bitter medicament comprises a stimulant.