1. A sealing device for shutting a pipe or a well, the device comprising:
a sleeve that is radially expandable under the action of an inflation fluid in order to be pressed hermetically against the wall of the pipe or the well, the sleeve being fastened to end members,
wherein said sleeve comprises:
firstly a pair of cylindrical membranes having walls that are flexible and elastic, the membranes being engaged coaxially one in the other and comprising an inner membrane for being subjected internally to the pressure of the inflation fluid and an outer membrane for being pressed against the wall of the pipe or the well in order to seal it off, and
secondly at least one very dense annular fiber structure formed of a multitude of fine and long fibers having high mechanical strength interconnecting said end members and wound helically about the inner membrane along an axis that coincides with the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the sleeve, and
wherein said fiber structure firstly presents a certain thickness and secondly is interposed between said membranes, and
wherein the winding angle of the fibers relative to the direction of said longitudinal axis of symmetry has a value that is considerably greater in the end portions of the sleeve than in the central portion thereof, the transition between the two portions taking place progressively over transition zones, with the angles taking on an intermediate value, the winding being such that the density of the fibers progressively diminishes from each end going towards the central portion, the angle of inclination of the fibers before expansion being calculated slice by slice in such a manner that in each of the annular slices of the fiber structure the shortening ratio after radial expansion of the sleeve is substantially constant over the entire thickness of said slice.
2. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the density of said annular fiber structure is such that after the sleeve has expanded radially, said fibers are touching or practically touching, such that the structure serves substantially to provide mechanical reinforcement to withstand high pressure forces and as an anti-extrusion filter to prevent any extrusion of the inner membrane between said fibers under the effect of pressure.
3. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the transition zones are of different lengths.
4. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein said fibers are made of a material having high traction strength, such as in particular, fibers of aramid, of carbon, of glass, or of steel.
5. A sealing device according to claim 4, wherein said fibers are circular in section with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm.
6. A sealing device according to claim 5, wherein the diameter of the fibers lies in the range 5 \u03bcm to 100 \u03bcm, approximately, and is preferably about 10 \u03bcm to 20 \u03bcm.
7. A sealing device according to claim 6, wherein the density of the fibers within said fiber structure, considered in a section plane extending transversely relative to the sleeve, lies in the range 100 fibersmm2 to 45,000 fibersmm2, and is preferably about 10,000 fibersmm2.
8. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the fibers constituting the fiber structure are grouped together to constitute a plurality of yarns, rovings, or cables that are independent of one another.
9. A sealing device according to claim 8, wherein said fiber structure is made up of a plurality of contiguous concentric sheets, and the angular orientations of the fibers constituting two contiguous sheets are opposite, and wherein at least some of said rovings are common to a plurality of sheets.
10. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein said fiber structure is made up of a plurality of contiguous concentric sheets, and the angular orientations of the fibers constituting two contiguous sheets are opposite.
11. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein, trapped between said inner and outer membranes, the device includes a highly deformable agent in which the fibers constituting said structure are coated.
12. A sealing device according to claim 11, wherein said agent is a rubber, an oil, a grease, or silicone resin.
13. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the fibers constituting said fiber structure are coated in a material that is solid but that presents characteristics of high flexibility and elasticity, not impeding the ability of said structure to deform freely relative to the surrounding membranes.
14. A sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the winding angle of the fibers relative to the direction of said longitudinal axis of symmetry has a value of about 45\xb0 to 60\xb0 in the end portions of the sleeve, and a value of about 15\xb0 to 30\xb0 in the central portion thereof.
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 home networking system comprising:
a housing component at least partially defining an enclosure;
a processor located within the enclosure;
an interface operable to communicatively couple with an element of a premise network to provide at least a portion of a communication link between the processor and a node of a wireline network;
a wireless local area networking module communicatively coupled to a memory and configured to communicate within a local coverage area using a proximal wireless protocol;
the memory storing a messaging file comprising instructions to direct a wireless telephone processor to send a wireless messaging service message configured for delivery via a wide area wireless network to the wireless local area networking module using the proximal wireless protocol; and
a message forwarding engine configured to output information representing the wireless messaging service message via the interface to the wireline network.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:
a triggering engine operable to recognize a voice call communicated via the premise network and further operable to output a signal in response to recognizing the voice call; and
a notification engine responsive to the signal and operable to initiate sending a notification message addressed to a messaging address via the interface, the messaging address identifying a wireless-enabled device.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless messaging service message is configured for delivery using a wide area wireless messaging service selected from the group consisting of electronic mail, IM, SMS, EMS, and MMS.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the node of the wireline network comprises a piece of cable head end equipment, further comprising a video stream decoder communicatively coupled to the interface and operable to decode a signal communicated from the node via the interface.
5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a modem device communicatively coupled to the interface, the modem device selected from the group consisting of a cable modem, a dial-up modem, a wireless modem, a satellite modem, and an xDSL modem.
6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an enhanced service engine operable to facilitate deployment of an enhanced service selected from the group consisting of a videoconferencing service, a home networking service, an Internet Protocol telephony service, a Video on Demand (VoD) service, a high-speed Internet Television service, and a personal video recording service.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the messaging file comprises an over the air downloadable Java application.
8. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable data to direct a processor of a wireless-enabled communication device to recognize accessibility of WLAN hub via a local coverage area, to identify a wireless messaging service message intended for communication from the wireless-enabled communication device to a wide area wireless network, and to re-route the message to the WLAN hub.
9. A communication networking method comprising:
interfacing a device having a short-range wireless transceiver to a wireline network element;
receiving via the short-range wireless transceiver a wide area wireless messaging service message addressed to a recipient; and
initiating communication of information representing the message to the recipient via the wireline network element.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
storing a file comprising executable instructions for sending a given wide area wireless messaging service message via a short-range wireless networking protocol; and
wirelessly communicating the file to a wireless-enable communication device.
11. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving an incoming signal that comprises information representing a plurality of broadcast video streams.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the short-range wireless transceiver is operable to communicate using an 802.11(x) compliant protocol.
13. The method of claim 9, further comprising modifying the message for delivery via the wireline network element such that a received message delivered to the recipient appears as an incoming messaging delivered by a service selected from the group consisting of an electronic mail service, an IM service, an SMS, an EMS, and an MMS.
14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving via the wireline network element a file comprising executable instructions for sending a given wide area wireless messaging service message via a short-range wireless networking protocol;
storing the file; and
wirelessly communicating the file to a wireless-enable communication device.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
communicating a notification to the wireless-enabled communication device indicating availability of the file; and
receiving a request for the file from the wireless-enabled communication device.
16. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireline network element comprises a cable modem.
17. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireline network element comprises an xDSL modem.
18. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving a voice call via the wireline network element;
recognizing that a wireless-enabled communication device is within a coverage area of the short-range wireless transceiver; and
allowing the wireless-enabled device to participate in the voice call.
19. A communication method comprising:
creating a first message for delivery by a messaging service selected from a group consisting of an SMS, an EMS, and an MMS;
sending the message with a wide area wireless transceiver of a wireless telephone;
creating a second message for delivery by a messaging service selected from the group; and
sending the second message with a local area transceiver of the wireless telephone.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:
initiating presentation of a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display of the wireless telephone, the GUI including an icon for launching a message creation engine;
recognizing a desire to create the second messaging service message;
presenting a wireline delivery option; and
receiving a signal indicating selection of the wireline delivery option, wherein the wireline delivery option comprises sending the second message with the local area transceiver.
21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:
receiving an incoming message with an attached file;
saving the file to a local memory; and
executing the file to create a message delivery option that employs the local area transceiver of the wireless telephone to send the second message.
22. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving the incoming message via the local area transceiver.
23. A communication service method comprising:
recognizing that a wireless telephone is within a coverage area of a wireless local area networking hub; and
allowing the wireless telephone to send a message selected from a group consisting of an SMS message, an EMS message, and an MMS message to an intended recipient via the wireless local area networking hub.
24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:
providing a wired broadband backhaul service to a subscriber associated with the wireless telephone; and
communicating the message to a messaging service center at no additional charge to the subscriber.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising making a file available to the subscriber, the file comprising computer-readable instructions to direct a processor of the wireless telephone to recognize accessibility of a WLAN hub via a local coverage area, to identify a wireless messaging service message configured for communication from the wireless telephone to a wide area wireless network, and to re-route the message to the WLAN hub.
26. The system of claim 24, further comprising indicating to the subscriber on a bill an amount saved by communicating the message from the wireless telephone to the wireless local area networking hub as compared to delivery from the wireless telephone to a wide area wireless network element.