1. A counter-flow heat exchanger for a vehicle air conditioning system, comprising:
a first lateral tank having an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, said first lateral tank including an inlet port fluidly connected to said inlet chamber and an outlet port fluidly connected to said outlet chamber, said outlet port positioned adjacent an uppermost portion of said first lateral tank for reducing air pockets;
a second lateral tank laterally spaced apart from said first lateral tank;
a first set of tubes fluidly connecting said inlet chamber of said first lateral tank to said second lateral tank; and
a second set of tubes fluidly connecting said second lateral tank to said outlet chamber of said first lateral tank,
wherein said first lateral tank includes a first face and a second, opposite face, spaced apart longitudinal, opposite sides extending between said first and second faces and spaced apart transverse, opposite sides extending between said first and second faces, said longitudinal sides include an upper longitudinal side and a lower longitudinal side, said outlet port positioned adjacent said upper longitudinal side, and said outlet chamber includes a first portion disposed adjacent and along said lower longitudinal side and a second portion angularly disposed relative to said first portion and disposed adjacent and along an upper one of said transverse sides and extending between said longitudinal sides.
2. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 wherein said first set of tubes and said second set of tubes extend generally horizontally between said first and second lateral tanks.
3. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 wherein said first lateral tank includes said first face to which said first and second sets of tubes are connected and said second, opposite face in which said inlet and outlet ports are defined.
4. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 wherein said inlet port is positioned adjacent said upper longitudinal side and said first set of inlet tubes are generally disposed adjacent and along said upper longitudinal side.
5. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 wherein said outlet chamber generally has an L-shape with said second portion forming a base of said L-shape and said first portion forming a height of said L-shape.
6. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 wherein said transverse sides include an upper transverse side and a lower transverse side, said outlet port positioned adjacent said upper transverse side.
7. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 wherein said outlet port is positioned adjacent an intersection between one of said longitudinal sides and one of said transverse sides.
8. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 7 wherein said lateral tanks are angularly oriented such that an intersection between said one of said longitudinal sides and said one of said transverse sides forms said uppermost portion of said first lateral tank.
9. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 1 further including a separator disposed in said first lateral tank to define, together with interior wall surfaces of said first lateral tank, said inlet chamber and said outlet chamber, said separator having a first section dividing said first lateral tank longitudinally between said inlet chamber and said outlet chamber and a second section angularly disposed relative to said first section.
10. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 9 wherein said separator generally has an L-shape with said second section forming a base of said L-shape and said first section forming a height of said L-shape.
11. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 10 wherein said inlet chamber is formed along and adjacent said upper longitudinal side of said first lateral tank and said L-shape of said separator positions a portion of said outlet chamber along said upper longitudinal side.
12. The counter-flow heat exchanger of claim 11 wherein said inlet port and said outlet port are defined on said second face of said first lateral tank facing away from said first and second sets of tubes, said inlet port and said outlet port both positioned on said second face adjacent said upper longitudinal side.
13. A heater core for a vehicle air conditioning system, comprising:
a pair of horizontally spaced apart tanks including an inletoutlet tank and a reversing tank, said inletoutlet tank having an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber disposed therein;
a first set of tubes extending between said pair of horizontally spaced apart tanks and defining a fluid path from said inlet chamber of said inletoutlet tank to said reversing tank; and
a second set of tubes extending between said pair of horizontally spaced part tanks and further defining said fluid path from said reversing tank to said outlet chamber of said inletoutlet tank, said outlet chamber having a first portion arranged at a higher elevation than said inlet chamber, and
a separator is disposed within said inletoutlet tank to separate said inletoutlet tank into said inlet chamber and said outlet chamber, said separator spanning between horizontally spaced apart first and second walls and shaped to position said inlet chamber directly above a second portion of said outlet chamber.
14. The heater core of claim 13 further including:
an inlet port defined through a wall of said inletoutlet tank to fluidly connect to said inlet chamber; and
an outlet port defined through a wall of said inletoutlet tank at a location of said portion of said outlet chamber arranged at said higher elevation to fluidly connect to said outlet chamber and thereby reduce the likelihood of air bubbles forming in said inletoutlet tank.
15. The heater core of claim 13 wherein said outlet chamber extends horizontally between said horizontally spaced apart walls, including a said first wall having a plurality of tube ports fluidly connected to said second set of tubes and a said second, opposite wall, said outlet chamber generally has an L-shape including a base portion and a height portion, said base portion includes said first portion of said outlet chamber arranged at said higher elevation and said height portion includes said second portion of said outlet chamber.
16. The heater core of claim 15 wherein said separator is L-shaped.
17. The heater core of claim 13 wherein said pair of horizontally spaced apart tanks are angularly disposed.
18. A vehicle heat exchanger with counter-flow, comprising:
an inletoutlet tank having an inlet port and an inlet chamber connected therewith, and further having an outlet port and an outlet chamber connected therewith;
a reversing tank laterally and horizontally spaced apart from said inletoutlet tank, said reversing tank having a reversing chamber;
tubes connecting said inlet chamber with said reversing chamber and connecting said reversing chamber with said outlet chamber; and
wherein said outlet chamber generally has an L-shape including a base portion and a height portion, said base portion forming an uppermost portion of said inletoutlet tank elevated above said inlet chamber, and said inlet chamber has a rectangular shape and is positioned directly above said height portion of said outlet chamber.
19. The vehicle heat exchanger of claim 18 wherein said tubes include:
a first set of tubes extending from and fluidly connecting said inlet chamber to said reversing chamber;
a second set of tubes extending from and fluidly connecting said reversing chamber to said outlet chamber;
a first fluid path defined by tubes of said first and second sets of tubes that are disposed along said base portion;
at least a second fluid path defined by tubes of said first set of tubes disposed adjacent said height portion and tubes of said second set of tubes connected to said height portion of said outlet chamber.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1-40. (canceled)
41. A system for use in a network device supporting advertising of multimedia information services, the system comprising:
at least one processor operably coupled to circuitry for communication via at least one wireless network, and operably coupled to circuitry for communication via a broadband network, the at least one processor arranged to, at least:
determine, via one or both of the at least one wireless network andor the broadband network, service information comprising availability of media-related services and a service advertisement of selectable services offered by the network device;
download, upgrade andor update operating code when a user device that supports services or features that are not presently supported by the network device gains access to the network device via the at least one wireless network; and
transmit the service information comprising the availability of media-related services and the service advertisement of the selectable services offered by the network device to the user device via the at least one wireless network.
42. The system according to claim 41, wherein the network device is a gateway device.
43. The system according to claim 41, wherein the user device is an access device.
44. The system according to claim 41, wherein the user device comprises a mobile multimedia handset.
45. The system according to claim 41, wherein multimedia information comprises one or more of streaming video, broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitized video, andor digitized music.
46. The system according to claim 41, wherein media-related services comprise one or more of accessing, recording, playing, exchanging, transmitting, receiving, converting, andor translating.
47. The system according to claim 41, wherein the network device is capable of downloading executable code for operating one or both of the network device andor the user device.
48. The system according to claim 41, wherein the circuitry for communication via at least one wireless network is compliant with the Bluetooth V1.2 or compatible personal area network (PAN) specification.
49. The system according to claim 41, wherein the broadband network comprises one or more of a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, andor the Internet.
50. A method for use in operating a network device supporting advertising of multimedia information services, the method comprising:
determining, via one or both of at least one wireless network andor a broadband network, service information comprising availability of media-related services and a service advertisement of selectable services offered by the network device;
downloading, upgrading andor updating operating code when a user device that supports services or features that are not presently supported by the network device gains access to the network device via the at least one wireless network; and
transmitting the service information comprising the availability of media-related services and the service advertisement of the selectable services offered by the network device to the user device via the at least one wireless network.
51. The method according to claim 50, wherein the network device is a gateway device.
52. The method according to claim 50, wherein the user device comprises a mobile multimedia handset.
53. The method according to claim 50, wherein multimedia information comprises one or more of streaming video, broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitized video, andor digitized music.
54. The method according to claim 50, wherein media-related services comprise one or more of accessing, recording, playing, exchanging, transmitting, receiving, converting, andor translating.
55. The method according to claim 50, wherein the network device is capable of downloading executable code for operating one or both of the network device andor the user device.
56. The method according to claim 50, wherein the at least one wireless interface is compliant with one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, andor 802.11n standards.
57. The method according to claim 50, wherein the broadband network comprises one or more of a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, andor the Internet.
58. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of code sections, each code section comprising a plurality of instructions executable by a processor for causing the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining, via one or both of at least one wireless network andor a broadband network, service information comprising availability of media-related services and a service advertisement of selectable services offered by the network device;
downloading, upgrading andor updating operating code when a user device that supports services or features that are not presently supported by the network device gains access to the network device via the at least one wireless network; and
transmitting the service information comprising the availability of media-related services and the service advertisement of the selectable services offered by the network device to the user device via the at least one wireless network.
59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 58, wherein the network device is a set top box arranged to provide signals to a television.
60. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 58, wherein the user device comprises a mobile multimedia handset.