1. A build chamber for use in a three-dimensional printer and adapted for receiving powder for producing three-dimensional objects, the chamber comprising:
a build surface for receiving the powder, the build surface comprising:
a first plate defining a plurality of spaced apart openings having a pitch; and
a second plate defining a plurality of openings spaced apart and offset from the plurality of holes in the first plate by approximately 50% of the pitch of the plurality of holes in the first plate, the second plate disposed below and spaced from the first plate, wherein the pitch corresponds to the space between proximate edges of adjacent openings and is approximately equal to 2(space between the plates)(cotangent of an angle of repose of the powder)+(diameter of holes).
2. The build chamber of claim 1 further comprising:
at least one wall at least partially circumscribing the build surface and at least partially defining the chamber;
a piston disposed below the build surface and adapted to the build chamber to move the build surface vertically relative to the at least one wall; and
an outlet coupled to the build chamber and disposed below the build chamber for removing unbound powder from the build chamber when a vacuum is applied.
3. The build chamber of claim 2, wherein the outlet is located in a plenum disposed below the build surface and is adapted to be coupled to a vacuum source to draw unbound powder out of the build chamber through the build surface.
4. The build chamber of claim 2 further comprising a cover disposable above the at least one wall to at least partially isolate the chamber from its environment.
5. The build chamber of claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate of the build surface are interchangeable with plates adapted for differing angles of repose.
6. The build chamber of claim 1, wherein the build surface further comprises at least one spacer disposed between the first plate and the second plate to maintain a fixed spacing between the plates.
7. The build chamber of claim 1 further comprising a vacuum source coupled to the outlet for fluidizing the powder.
8. The build chamber of claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate of the build surface are movable relative to one another.
9. The build chamber of claim 1 further comprising a mechanism for vibrating at least a portion of the build chamber.
10. The build chamber of claim 9, wherein the mechanism vibrates the build surface.
11. The build chamber of claim 1, wherein the space between the plates is variable.
12. A method of controlling the flow of unbound powder in a build chamber, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a build surface for receiving the powder, the build surface comprising:
a first plate defining a plurality of spaced apart openings having a pitch; and
a second plate defining a plurality of openings spaced apart and offset from the plurality of holes in the first plate by approximately 50% of the pitch of the plurality of holes in the first plate, the second plate disposed below and spaced from the first plate, wherein the pitch corresponds to the space between proximate edges of adjacent openings and is approximately equal to 2(space between the plates)(cotangent of an angle of repose of the powder)+(diameter of holes); and
providing a vacuum source below the build surface.
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of maintaining ambient pressure within the build chamber to prevent flow of powder through the build surface.
14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of activating the vacuum source to create a vacuum beneath the build surface to cause the powder to flow through the first and second plates.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the build chamber comprises a plenum disposed below the build surface for coupling the vacuum source to the build chamber.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plenum comprises an outlet for removing unbound powder from the build chamber when the vacuum source is activated.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein the build chamber comprises:
at least one wall at least partially circumscribing the build surface and at least partially defining the chamber; and
a piston disposed below the build surface and adapted to the build chamber to move the build surface vertically relative to the at least one wall.
18. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of vibrating the build surface to promote flow of unbound powder.
19. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of varying the space between the first plate and the second plate to accommodate powders having different angles of repose.
20. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the first plate and the second plate are interchangeable with plates adapted for differing angles of repose
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 method of clustering a plurality of client IP addresses within a distributed information network, the method comprising the steps of:
generating a unified prefixnetmask table from a plurality of network routing table prefixnetmask entries;
comparing each of the plurality of client IP addresses with the unified prefixnetmask table to determine a common prefix between each of the plurality of client IP addresses and at least one of the entries in the unified prefixnetmask table; and
grouping client IP addresses which share a common prefix into a network client cluster.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating a unified prefixnetmask table from a plurality of network routing table prefixnetmask entries includes the steps of:
extracting the prefixnetmask entries from a plurality of network routing tables; and
converting the prefixnetmask entries into a standardized format.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the client IP addresses are extracted from a network log.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
identifying existing spiders andor proxies within the network log.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
placing one or more servers in front of a network client cluster, wherein the servers are at least one of proxy servers, cache servers, content distribution servers and mirror servers.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the common prefix is the common longest matching prefix from the unified prefixnetmask table.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the distributed information network is the World Wide Web.
8. A method for guiding placement of servers within a distributed information network using at least one network server log and at least one network routing table from the distributed information network; the method comprising:
extracting a plurality of prefixnetmask entries from the at least one network routing table;
generating a unified prefixnetmask table from the plurality of extracted prefixnetmask entries;
extracting a plurality of client IP addresses from the at least one network server log;
comparing each of the plurality of client IP addresses with entries in the unifiedprefix netmask table to determine a common longest matching prefix between each of the plurality of client IP addresses and the entries in the unifiedprefix netmask table; and
grouping all of the client IP addresses which share the common longest matching prefix into at least one client cluster.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a unified prefixnetmask table from the plurality of extracted prefixnetmask entries includes:
converting the prefixnetmask entries into a standardized format.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the servers are selected from the group consisting of proxy servers, cache servers, content distribution servers and mirror servers.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein each client cluster is assigned one or more servers.
12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:
assigning one or more servers to each client cluster based on the number of requests issued by the client within each client cluster.
13. A method for clustering clients, the method comprising:
creating a unified table of routing address information;
comparing one or more client IP addresses with the unified routing table to determine which client IP addresses belong to a common network; and
clustering together the client IP addresses which belong to the common network into client clusters,
wherein comparing one or more client IP addresses with the unified routing table to determine which client IP addresses belong to a common network includes extracting the one or more IP addresses from at least one server log.
14. A method for clustering clients, the method comprising:
creating a unified table of routing address information;
comparing one or more client IP addresses with the unified routing table to determine which client IP addresses belong to a common network;
clustering together the client IP addresses which belong to the common network into client clusters; and
assigning servers to client clusters based on the number of clients comprising each client cluster and the number of requests issued by those clients.
15. A method for clustering clients, the method comprising:
creating a unified table of routing address information;
comparing one or more client IP addresses with the unified routing table to determine which client IP addresses belong to a common network;
clustering together the client IP addresses which belong to the common network into client clusters; and
assigning servers to the client clusters, wherein the servers are at least one of proxy servers, cache servers, content distribution servers and mirror servers.
16. A computer-readable medium storing executable instructions which cause a computer to perform the steps of:
creating a unified routing table from a plurality of routing table entries extracted from two or more network routing tables;
prefix matching a plurality of client IP addresses with the entries in the unified routing table; and
clustering client IP addresses which share common prefixes from the unified routing table into client clusters, wherein each client cluster will be serviced by at least one proxy server.
17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein creating a unified routing table from a plurality of routing table entries extracted from two or more network routing tables includes converting the plurality of routing table entries into a standardized format.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality of clients IP addresses are extracted from a server log.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the common prefix is the longest matching prefix between the IP addresses in a client cluster and one of the unified routing table entries.
20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the server is one of a proxy server, a cache server, a content distribution server and a mirror server.