1. (canceled)
2-39. (canceled)
40. A data transfer system comprising:
an aggregation unit to receive select packets and aggregate the received select packets into source transfer packets;
a conversion unit to convert the source transfer packets to cells for transfer via a communication network;
a reconfiguration unit to receive the transferred cells and reconfigure the received cells into destination transfer packets corresponding to the source transfer packets; and
a disaggregation unit to disaggregate the destination transfer packets into individual packets corresponding to the received select packets, and transmit the individual packets.
41. The data transfer system of claim 40, wherein two or more of the source transfer packets are of varying lengths.
42. The data transfer system of claim 40, wherein the received select packets have associated channels that correspond with one or more of a predetermined set of channels.
43. The data transfer system of claim 40, further comprising:
a selection unit to:
receive source packets via a source serial bus;
select the select packets from the received source packets; and
transfer the select packets to the aggregation unit.
44. The data transfer system of claim 43, wherein the selection unit is configured to select the select packets based on header information included in the source packets.
45. The data transfer system of claim 40, wherein each of the source transfer packets has an associated transmission source cycle.
46. The data transfer system of claim 45, further comprising:
a header unit configured to create, for each of the source transfer packets, a header that indicates the associated transmission source cycle.
47. The data transfer system of claim 45, wherein the disaggregation unit is configured to serially transmit the individual packets to a destination serial bus during a transmission destination cycle based on the associated transmission source cycle and a cycle of the destination serial bus.
48. The data transfer system of claim 40, wherein each of the source transfer packets has an associated cycle-unit transmission interval, and wherein the individual packets are serially transmitted according to the associated cycle-unit transmission interval.
49. The data transfer system of claim 40, wherein each of the source transfer packets has an associated transmission cycle offset, and wherein the individual packets are serially transmitted according to the associated transmission cycle offset.
50. A network device for use in transferring data via a communication network, comprising:
a transmitting member including:
a reception interface to receive packets via a serial bus associated with a transmission source;
a selection unit to receive the packets transferred from the reception interface and identify select packets among the received packets;
a transmission buffer to buffer a set of the select packets received from the selection unit; and
a transmission interface to configure the buffered set of select packets as a transfer packet.
51. The network device of claim 50, wherein the transmission interface is further configured to:
convert the transfer packet into a cell; and
transmit the cell to the communication network.
52. The network device of claim 50, wherein the packets have associated channels, and wherein the selection unit is configured to identify the select packets based on whether the associated channels respectively correspond to pre-registered channels.
53. The network device of claim 50, wherein the selection unit is configured to identify the select packets based on header information included in the received packets.
54. The network device of claim 50, further comprising:
a header creation unit to create a header upon receiving a cycle start notification from the reception interface, and to write the header into the transmission buffer.
55. The network device of claim 54, further comprising:
a transmission determination unit to:
specify, upon receiving a cycle start notification from the reception interface, a virtual path identifier (VPI) value and a virtual channel identifier (VCI) value associated with a virtual circuit over the communication network; and
transmit a transmission request to the transmission interface to convert the transfer packet, wherein the transmission interface is further configured to read in the contents of the header from the transmission buffer and add the header to the transfer packet.
56. The network device of claim 54, wherein the header comprises information that indicates a transmission source cycle during which the select packets are received.
57. The network device of claim 50, further comprising:
a receiving member including:
a cell reception interface to receive cells via the communication network and reconfigure the cells into destination transfer packets; and
a separation unit to receive the destination transfer packets from the cell reception interface and separate the received destination transfer packets into destination packets.
58. The network device of claim 57, wherein the receiving member further comprises:
a destination transmission determination unit to determine a cycle of a serial bus associated with a destination source, during which to transmit the destination packets; and
a destination transmission interface to serially transmit the destination packets to the serial bus associated with the destination source during the cycle determined by the destination transmission determination unit.
59. A method of data transfer, comprising:
receiving source packets via a source serial bus;
selecting packets from the received source packets;
aggregating the selected packets to form a first transfer packet;
converting the first transfer packet into a cell;
transmitting the cell via a communication network;
receiving the cell from the communication network;
reconfiguring the received cell to form a second transfer packet, the second transfer packet corresponding to the first transfer packet;
disaggregating the second transfer packet to form individual packets, the individual packets corresponding to the selected packets; and
transmitting the individual packets to a destination serial bus.
60. A system comprising:
means for selecting packets from among packets received during a transmission cycle of a first serial bus;
means for aggregating the selected packets to form a first transfer packet;
means for converting the first transfer packet into a cell for transmission via a communication network;
means for configuring the cell into a second transfer packet, the second transfer packet corresponding to the first transfer packet;
means for disaggregating the second transfer packet to form individual packets, the individual packets corresponding to the selected packets; and
means for transmitting the individual packets to a second serial bus during a transmission cycle of the second serial bus based on the transmission cycle of the first serial bus and a transmission cycle offset.
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. An apparatus for use with a selective laser sintering device, the device including a powder feed source with a first interior volume and a first feed piston slidably engaged with the source and being capable of movement between a first position toward a first end of the source and a second position toward a second end of the source, a powder to be moved from the first volume when the first feed piston moves in a direction from the first position toward the second position, the apparatus comprising:
a spacer having a second interior volume and adapted to fit into the first volume;
a second feed piston having a circumference and slidably engaged with the spacer and being capable of movement between a third position toward a first end of the spacer and a fourth position toward a second end of the spacer when the first feed piston moves between the first position and the second position, the powder to be moved from the second volume when the second feed piston moves in a direction from the third position to the fourth position; and
a seal around the circumference.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a coupling to couple the second feed piston to the first feed piston
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the coupling is a floating coupling whereby the coupling allows the second feed piston to move in at least one direction in addition to a direction between the between the first position of the second feed piston and the second position of the second feed piston.
4. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an access panel of the spacer positioned on the spacer to allow a user of the apparatus to remove the access panel from the spacer and observe at least the coupling.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a ballast adapted ride on the first piston.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, the ballast further comprising being adapted to fit into the first interior volume.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the second interior volume is approximately 30% of the first interior volume.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a bracket, the selective laser sintering device to include an infrared sensor originally positioned to sense the temperature of the powder after the powder has moved from the first interior volume, the bracket adapted to hold the infrared sensor in a position to sense the temperature of the powder after the powder has moved from the second interior volume.
9. A method of increasing the efficiency of a selective laser sintering device, the method comprising:
using a spacer to space apart a first feed piston from a wall of a feed source of the selective laser sintering device, the spacer defining a first interior volume, the wall of the feed source defining a second interior volume;
pushing the first feed piston at least partially through the first interior volume using a second feed piston, the second feed piston being a part of the selective laser sintering device, the pushing of the first feed piston causing a first portion of a powder in the first interior volume to move from the first interior volume, the first portion of powder being less than a second portion of powder that movement of the second feed piston through the second interior portion would have caused to move from the second interior volume if the powder had been in the second interior volume and in the absence of the spacer and first feed piston; and
sealing the first feed piston and the spacer.
10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising ballasting the second piston.
11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising sensing the temperature of the first portion of the powder.
12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising coupling the first piston and the second piston.
13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising allowing the first piston to move relative to the second piston in a direction other than the direction of the pushing.
14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising observing the coupling.
15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first portion of the powder is approximately 30% of the second portion of the powder.