Author: claimsbot

1. A device to measure the characteristics of droplets within a stream of liquid droplets used in spraying comprising:
a light source supplying light across the stream of droplets to be analysed;
detection means to detect the change in the level of light caused by a droplet passing through the light produced by the light source, the detection means generating a signal according to the change in light incident thereon; and
processing means to analyse the characteristics of the droplets in the stream based on the signal produced by the detection means;
wherein the light passes through a slit in a panel disposed between the droplet stream and the detection means, so that the change in level of light detected by the detection means is proportional to the diameter of the droplet.
2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is provided a sampling area through which droplets in the stream pass and through which light from the light source crosses the stream, and only droplets within the sampling area are measured as they pass therethrough.
3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sampling area has a volume of approximately 0.0025 cm3.
4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light source produces light in the infrared range.
5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light source is a point light source.
6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the area of the point light source is 0.1 mm2.
7. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slit is 50 pm wide.
8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device is encased in a housing.
9. A device as claimed in claim 1, further including a lens to focus the beam on to the light detection means.
10. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the detection means comprises a photo cell.
11. A device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an amplifier to amplify the signal from the detection means.
12. A device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a current to voltage converter to convert electrical current produced by the detection means into a voltage reading.
13. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor includes a counter to count the number of droplets.
14. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor further includes a comparator to separate droplets into different size ranges.
15. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the change in signal caused by a droplet is displayed on an oscilloscope and the time to cross the slit is measured so that the speed of the droplet can be calculated.
16. A device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the oscilloscope is a storage oscilloscope that records data for individual droplets so that droplets, exceptional because of their diameter or speed, can be identified.
17. A device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second light source producing a second light beam perpendicular to the light from the first light source and convergent therewith as the second beam passes through the droplet stream; a second detection means to detect the change in the level of light in the second light beam; and wherein a second panel with a slit is disposed between the droplet stream and the second detection means.
18. A device as claimed in claim 17, wherein only droplets detected by both detectors will be counted.
19. A droplet measurement system comprising one or more device as claimed in claim 1 mounted on one or more sprayer and a remote command unit that receives data from the or each device and which is adapted to analyse andor display this to an operator.
20. A droplet measurement system as claimed in claim 19, wherein the or each device includes a transceiver and is in wireless communication with the command unit.

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 for providing a keyboard accelerator for selecting software application functionality, comprising:
providing a plurality of functionalities available from a first software application;
receiving at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip associated with at least one additional functionality provided by a third party add-in software application to the first software application;
displaying in a user interface a selectable control for each of the plurality of functionalities and the at least one additional functionality, wherein the selectable control is localized according to a display language;
if the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip has the same label as one or more keyboard accelerator key tips associated with the first software application, adding an additional text character to the third-party keyboard accelerator tip;
displaying both keyboard accelerator key tips associated with the first software application and the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip over corresponding selectable controls, each keyboard accelerator key tip including at least two text characters for identifying each underlying selectable control, wherein the at least two text characters are independent of the display language;
receiving a selection of a first character of a given keyboard accelerator key tip;
if the first text character of the given keyboard accelerator key tip is identical to a first character of another keyboard accelerator key tip corresponding to another selectable control, dismissing from display any displayed keyboard accelerator key tips except the given keyboard accelerator key tip and the another keyboard accelerator key tip;
upon receiving a selection of a second text character disposed on one of the still displayed keyboard accelerator key tips, automatically executing a functionality associated with a selectable control laying under the selected keyboard accelerator key tip.
2. The method of claim 1, whereby displaying both keyboard accelerator key tips associated with the first software application and the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip over the corresponding selectable controls comprises displaying a keyboard accelerator key tip over each of the corresponding selectable controls in response to receiving a selection of a keyboard accelerator initiation key.
3. The method of claim 2, whereby receiving a selection of a keyboard accelerator initiation key includes receiving a selection of a keyboard alternate (ALT) key.
4. The method of claim 2, whereby receiving a selection of a keyboard accelerator initiation key includes receiving a selection of a keyboard control (CTRL) key.
5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
organizing the plurality of functionalities according to one or more tasks that may be performed with the first software application;
providing in the user interface a user interface tab for each of the one or more tasks;
providing in the user interface one or more selectable controls for selecting one or more functionalities organized under a first task associated with a selected user interface tab; and
whereby upon receiving a selection of a keyboard accelerator initiation key, displaying a keyboard accelerator key tip over each user interface tab and over each of the one or more selectable controls.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
receiving a selection of a given keyboard accelerator key tip displayed over a given user interface tab; and
in response to receiving a selection of a given keyboard accelerator key tip displayed over a given user interface tab, providing in the user interface one or more selectable controls for selecting one or more functionalities organized under a second task associated with the given user interface tab.
7. The method of claim 1, whereby displaying both keyboard accelerator key tips associated with the first software application and the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip over the corresponding selectable controls comprises overlaying each of the corresponding selectable controls with a display window for displaying an identification for each respective underlying selectable control.
8. The method of claim 7, whereby displaying both keyboard accelerator key tips associated with the first software application and the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip over the corresponding selectable controls comprises disposing the at least two text characters on a display area of each keyboard accelerator key tip, the display area being distinguished by one of: coloring, brightness, and shading different from other components of the user interface.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second text character is added to the display area of one of two displayed keyboard accelerator key tips for distinguishing the two displayed keyboard accelerator key tips, if the first characters of the two displayed keyboard accelerator key tips are the same.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the given keyboard accelerator key tip and the another keyboard accelerator key tip correspond to related selectable controls.
11. A computer storage medium containing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method for providing a keyboard accelerator for selecting software application functionality, the instructions comprising:
providing a plurality of functionalities available from a first software application;
receiving at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip associated with at least one additional functionality provided by a third party add-in software application to the first software application;
displaying in a user interface a selectable control for each of the plurality of functionalities and the at least one additional functionality, wherein the selectable control is localized according to a display language;
if the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip has the same label as one or more keyboard accelerator key tips associated with the first software application, adding an additional text character to the third-party keyboard accelerator tip;
displaying a both keyboard accelerator key tip tips associated with the first software application and the at least one third-party keyboard accelerator key tip over at least one corresponding selectable control in response to receiving a selection of a keyboard accelerator initiation key, wherein the keyboard accelerator key tip includes two text characters with the second text character being added to the display area of one of two displayed keyboard accelerator key tips with same first characters for distinguishing the two displayed keyboard accelerator key tips and wherein the at least two text characters are independent of the display language;
receiving a selection of a first character of a given keyboard accelerator key tip;
if the first text character of the given keyboard accelerator key tip is identical to a first character of another keyboard accelerator key tip corresponding to another selectable control, dismissing from display any displayed keyboard accelerator key tips except the given keyboard accelerator key tip and the another keyboard accelerator key tip; and
upon receiving a selection of a second text character disposed on one of the still displayed keyboard accelerator key tips, automatically executing a functionality associated with a selectable control laying under the selected keyboard accelerator key tip.
12. The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein displaying both keyboard accelerator key tips over each selectable control includes disposing the two text characters on a display area of each keyboard accelerator key tip the display area being distinguished by one of: coloring and shading different from other components of the user interface.
13. The computer storage medium of claim 12, wherein receiving a selection of the keyboard accelerator key tip includes receiving a selection of two keyboard key entries corresponding to the two text characters disposed on the display area of the selected keyboard accelerator key tip.
14. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein the given keyboard accelerator key tip and the another keyboard accelerator key tip correspond to related selectable controls.
15. A method for providing a keyboard accelerator for selecting software application functionality, comprising:
displaying in a user interface a selectable control for each of a plurality of functionalities available from a first software application, wherein the selectable control is localized according to a display language;
receiving a third-party selectable control associated with at least one additional functionality provided by a third party add-in software application to the first software application, wherein the third-party selectable control is localized according to the display language;
in response to receiving a selection of a keyboard accelerator initiation key, overlaying each selectable control with a display window for displaying two identification characters for each respective underlying selectable control, wherein the second identification character is added to a display area of one of two display windows for distinguishing the two display windows if the two display windows overlaying two respective selectable controls include the same first identification character and wherein the two identification characters are independent of the display language;
if the third-party selectable control has the same two identification characters as one or more of the selectable controls associated with the first software application, altering the second identification character of the third-party selectable control;
receiving a selection of a first identification character via a keyboard selection of the given identification characters;
dismissing from display any displayed two identification characters that do not match the first identification character; and
upon receiving a selection of a second identification character disposed on one of the still displayed two identification characters, automatically executing a functionality associated with a selectable control laying under a display window bearing the selected identification characters.
16. The method of claim 15, whereby overlaying each selectable control with a display window for displaying an identification character for each respective underlying selectable control further includes disposing on a display area of each display window two text characters for identifying each underlying selectable control.

1. A system for managing public communications, comprising:
a server computer operatively connected to a network;
a communications manager having:
an information module;
a project team tools module;
a communications tools module;
site management tools module; and

wherein the server computer provides access, following authentication, to one or more of the information module, the project team tools module, the communications tools module, and the site management tools module.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information module provides one or more of project overview, recent project changes, and project status
3. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one software interface for receiving public comments.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one software interface comprises:
a first sub-interface for creating and submitting authenticating an individual; and
a second sub-interface for receiving information about the individual.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first and second interfaces are presented to the individual in a seamless manner.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the project team tools module provides one or more of a task manager, related links, a project calendar, an image manager, a document library, a project showcase, a directory, a listing of team members, and electronic communications with team members.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications tool module provides one or more of web conferencing and message board.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the site management tools module provides one or more of site maintenance, survey maintenance, web trend tools, survey reports, public comment and public comment reports.
9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a backend software interface for interactions with team members, the backend interface comprising:
an option for uploading documents;
an option for one or more of sorting and searching public submissions and documents in accordance with a specified search criteria; and
an option for filtering public submissions.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the site management tools module include screening public submission to identify presence of inappropriate subject matter.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the identified inappropriate subject matter is sequestered for detailed review.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the project team tools include searching for public submissions in accordance with one or more of a keyword, a time of submission, an identifier, an idea, a theme, and a vision.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications management module comprises:
shared modular code; and
means for responding to different browser implementations by invoking corresponding code.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the communications management module further supports Web site maintenance by one or more of updating dynamic text areas, creating Web sites by using templates, handling multiple Web sites by using customizations of at least one shared feature, providing a separate address linked to a Web site for accepting public comments, providing a separate address for accepting comments, automatic font and color adjustments, and supporting substantially unlimited number of active pages.
15. The system of claim 1, wherein work product is published on a Website substantially concurrently with its generation to invite comments to complete a feedback loop.
16. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication management module enables one or more of a public agency, a quasi public agency and an enterprise to manage public comments, managing comments from a select audience, support one or more teams of consultants, agency staff, stakeholder organizations relevant to one or more projects at the same time
17. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication management module provides one or more of a public agency, a quasi public agency and an enterprise electronic project management with work-flow, document and image management, content management, Web-site management, and reporting technologies.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein access is provided at a plurality of levels.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of access levels include User Manager for adding and assigning users to projects, Project Manager for creating new projects and having full access to the communications management module, and Team Member for having access to a limited number of modules with readupdate privileges.
20. The system of claim 1 further comprising a public website maintenance interface for providing access to one or more of project overview, a timeline, a document repository, an events calendar, an image manager, a public comment manager module, and a survey module
21. The system of claim 19, wherein the communications management module can access the public website maintenance interface via a project site maintenance interface.
22. The system of claim 19, wherein the public comment module includes providing a submitter with one or more of an option of being notified of additional developments and participating in at least one survey.
23. The system of claim 1 further comprising modules for one or more of general information about a project, project goals, a project team, public documents, public notices, an image resource library, a project calendar, a project showcase, and a public comment module with one or more of a notification and survey functionality.
24. A communications manager module comprising:
an information module;
a project team tools module;
a communications tools module;
site management tools module; and
wherein the communication manager provides access, following authentication, to one or more of the information module, the project team tools module, the communications tools module, and the site management tools module.
25. The communications manager module of claim 24 further having a plurality of access levels including User Manager for adding and assigning users to projects, Project Manager for creating new projects and having full access to the communications management module, and Team Member for having access to a limited number of modules with readupdate privileges.
26. An interface for a Web site coupled to the communications manager of claim 24 comprising a plurality of links selected from links to general information about a project, project goals, a project team, documents, notices, an image resource library, a project calendar, a project showcase, and a comment module.
27. The interface of claim 26, wherein the comment module further includes one or more of a notification and survey functionality.
28. The interface of claim 26, wherein the single point of entry is provided by requiring authentication of one or more of a username, a password, a encrypted session, and a challenge-response protocol.
29. A method of using updated comments from a Web site coupled to the communications manager of claim 24, comprising:
authenticating a submitter;
receiving a plurality of comments from the submitter;
storing the plurality of comments from the submitter with other comments received at the Web site;
retrieving comments by the submitter by carrying out a search;
organizing the retrieved comments chronologically to prepare an updated comment; and
using the updated comment in a comment report.
30. The method of claim 29, wherein a proposed rule is modified in response to the comment report.
31. A method of updating a posted issue inviting comments at a public Web site coupled to the communications manager of claim 24, comprising:
posting an issue at the public Web site with a specified date for receiving responses;
reviewing submissions received on the posted issue at the public Web site; and
modifying the posted issue in response to the comments prior to the expiry of the specified date for receiving responses, whereby subsequent responses are directed to the modified posted issue.

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 computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for developing a rule-based named entity extraction system, the computer program product comprising program instructions configured to implement:
a heuristics modeler configured to:
present a user with a plurality of predefined template rule parameters, wherein one or more of the predefined template rule parameters are defined based on domain specific language patterns;
receive user input selecting at least one rule parameter from among the predefined template rule parameters;
define at least one linguistic rule based on based on the at least rule parameter selected by the received user input, wherein the at least one linguistic rule enables automated extraction of named entities from unstructured text data;

a testing framework configured to enable automated regression testing of the named entity extraction system;
a project settings module configured to perform project management activities for implementing the named entity extraction system; and
a deployment module configured to facilitate deployment of the rule-based named entity extraction system using software components.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the heuristics modeler comprises:
a rules builder configured to provide users with a graphical user interface for building linguistic rules, wherein the graphical user interface displays one or more rule templates for defining rules;
a lexicon builder configured to provide the user with a graphical user interface for building and managing lexicon files; and
a regular expressions editor configured to provide the user with an interface or formulating rules by entering regular expressions.
3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the project settings module comprises:
an entity specification module configured to provide users with means to specify one or more entity types relevant to technical domain of the rule-based named entity extraction system;
an input data specification module configured to facilitate users to specify format of input data on which the rule-based named entity extraction system is executed;
a rules browser configured to facilitate users to browse one or more existing rule templates stored in a source code repository, wherein the rules browser operates in communication with the rules builder for building of rules and lexicons; and
a lexicon browser configured to facilitate users to create, modify, manage and reuse one or more lexicon files, wherein the lexicon browser operates in communication with the lexicon builder for building and managing lexicon files.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the testing framework comprises:
a test suite builder configured to facilitate building of one or more test suites for conducting regression testing of the rule-based named entity extraction system;
a regression testing unit configured to conduct regression testing of the rule-based named entity extraction system, wherein the regression testing is done to verify functionality of source code modified as a result of a change in rule definition;
a test reporting unit configured to facilitate generation of regression testing results in the form of reports; and
a versioning unit configured to facilitate versioning of the rule-based named entity extraction system.
5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the regression testing unit comprises:
a data fetch module configured to fetch expected output and predicted output of the rule-based named entity extraction system,
wherein expected output comprises a named entity extraction result obtained by executing source code unmodified by change in named entity extraction rule definition, and
wherein predicted output comprises a named entity extraction result obtained by executing source code modified by change in named entity extraction rule definition,

a preprocessing module configured to convert the formats of predicted and expected outputs into an intermediate format; and
a comparison engine configured to compare the expected and predicted outputs in order to verify functionality of source code modified as a result of a change in rule definition.
6. A method for developing a rule-based named entity extraction system, the method comprising:
presenting through a graphical user interface (GUI) a plurality of predefined template rule parameters, wherein one or more of the predefined template rule parameters are defined based on domain specific language patterns;
receiving through the GUI, user input selecting at least one rule parameter from among the predefined template rule parameters;
designing the rule-based named entity extraction system, wherein designing the rule-based named entity extraction system comprises defining at least one linguistic rule based on the at least rule parameter selected by the received user input, wherein the at least one linguistic rule enables automated extraction of named entities from unstructured text data;
implementing the design of rule-based named entity extraction system using one or more GUI-based tools;
conducting regression testing of the rule-based named entity extraction system, wherein the regression testing is conducted to verify functionality of source code; and
deploying the rule-based named entity extraction system.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein designing the rule-based named entity extraction system additionally comprises defining one or more of project parameters, rules, lexicons and entities based on the domain specific language patterns.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein implementing the design of rule-based named entity extraction system comprises:
specifying project settings;
building one or more entities; and
building one or more linguistic rules and lexicons.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein specifying project settings comprises specifying project name and working directory.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more entities, the one or more linguistic rules and lexicons are built using one or more GUI-based tools.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein source code corresponding to the one or more entities and the one or more rules and lexicons is automatically generated and stored in a source code repository.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein the source code is saved in form of an XML file in a file system or RDBMS system.
13. The method of claim 6, wherein conducting regression testing of the rule-based named entity extraction system comprises:
structuring one or more tests;
creating one or more test cases;
executing the one or more test cases; and
generating test reports corresponding to the one or more test cases.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more test cases are created by storing expected and predicted outputs of a rule-based named entity extraction system for similar input texts in a source repository,
wherein expected output comprises a named entity extraction result obtained by executing source code unmodified by change in named entity extraction rule definition, and
wherein predicted output comprises a named entity extraction result obtained by executing source code modified by change in named entity extraction rule definition.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more test cases are executed to compare the expected and predicted outputs of the rule-based named entity extraction system,
wherein expected output comprises a named entity extraction result obtained by executing source code unmodified by change in named entity extraction rule definition, and
wherein predicted output comprises a named entity extraction result obtained by executing source code modified by change in named entity extraction rule definition.
16. The method of claim 6, wherein deploying the rule-based named entity extraction system comprises:
assigning a version to the entity extraction system based on regression testing results; and
creating run-time artifacts.