Author: claimsbot

1. An apparatus for processing sounds, including sounds from a user’s mouth, comprising:
a first microphone to produce a first output signal;
a second microphone to produce a second output signal;
a first directional filter adapted to receive the first output signal and produce a first directional output signal;
a digital signal processor adapted to receive signals representative of the sounds from the user’s mouth from at least one or more of the first and second microphones and to detect at least an average fundamental frequency of voice, or pitch output;
a voice detection circuit adapted to receive the second output signal and the pitch output and to produce a voice detection trigger;
a mismatch filter adapted to receive and process the second output signal, the voice detection trigger, and an error signal, wherein the error signal is a difference between the first output signal and an output of the mismatch filter;
a second directional filter adapted to receive the mismatch output and produce a second directional output signal; and
a first summing circuit adapted to receive the first directional output signal and the second directional output signal and to provide a summed directional output signal,
wherein in use, at least the first microphone and the second microphone are in relatively constant spatial position with respect to the user’s mouth.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the error signal is produced by a second summing circuit adapted to subtract the output of the mismatch filter from the first output signal.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mismatch filter is an adaptive filter.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the adaptive filter is an LMS adaptive filter.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the LMS adaptive filter comprises:
a least mean squares processor (LMS processor) configured to receive the second output signal and the voice detection trigger and the error signal, and to provide a plurality of LMS coefficients; and
a finite impulse response filter (FIR filter) configured to receive the plurality of LMS coefficients and the second output signal and adapted to produce the matched output.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first microphone and second microphone are mounted in a behind-the-ear hearing aid housing.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first microphone and second microphone are mounted in an in-the-ear hearing aid housing.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first microphone and second microphone are mounted in an in-the-canal hearing aid housing.
9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first microphone and second microphone are mounted in a completely-in-the-canal hearing aid housing.
10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the apparatus is at least partially realized using a digital signal processor.
11. A method for matching at least a first microphone to a second microphone, using a user’s voice from the user’s mouth, comprising:
processing the user’s voice as received by at least one microphone to determine a frequency profile associated with voice of the user;
detecting intervals where the user is speaking using the frequency profile; and
adaptively canceling variations in microphone reception between the first microphone and the second microphone during the intervals and when the first microphone and second microphone are in relatively constant spatial position with respect to the user’s mouth.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing is performed using voice received by the first microphone.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing is performed using voice received by the second microphone.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing is performed using voice received by the first and second microphone.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein the adaptively canceling variations includes an LMS filter adaptation process.
16. The method of claim 11, comprising performing the adaptively canceling variations in a behind-the-ear hearing aid.
17. The method of claim 11, comprising performing the adaptively canceling variations in an in-the-ear hearing aid.
18. The method of claim 11, comprising performing the adaptively canceling variations in an in-the-canal hearing aid.
19. The method of claim 11, comprising performing the adaptively canceling variations in a completely-in-the-canal hearing aid.
20. The method of claim 11, comprising performing the adaptively canceling variations using a digital signal processor realization.

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 package comprising a two-part locking mechanism and a release mechanism for deactivating the two-part locking mechanism, the release mechanism comprising a depressible zone, the depressible zone being formed in a panel of the package and being defined by two oppositely positioned and spaced cut or frangible side edges and the depressible zone otherwise being continuously formed with said panel, the depressible zone being structured and arranged such that the depressible zone is deformable below the plane of the said panel to cause the two-part locking mechanism to be unlocked.
2. A package according to claim 1 wherein said two oppositely positioned cut or frangible side edges are each straight such that the depressible zone is generally rectangular in shape.
3. A package according to claim 1 wherein said two oppositely positioned cut or frangible side edges are each curved such that the depressible zone is generally concave in shape.
4. A package according to claim 1 wherein said two oppositely positioned cut or frangible side edges are each curved such that the depressible zone is generally convex in shape.
5. A package according to claim 1 wherein each of said two oppositely positioned cut or frangible side edges comprises a tear stop at each of its ends.
6. A package according to claim 5 wherein each tear stop is a \u201cJ\u201d-shaped termination.
7. A package according to claim 1 wherein the depressible zone is structured and arranged such that the depressible zone is deformable below the plane of the said panel by the provision of one or more intermediate fold lines extending between and terminating on each of the two oppositely positioned cut or frangible side edges.
8. A package according to claim 7 wherein the depressible zone is further defined by two outer fold lines, each outer fold line extending between and terminating on the side cuts of the depressible zone.
9. A package according to claim 8 wherein the one or more intermediate fold lines comprises two intermediate fold lines both formed closer to one of said outer fold lines than to the other of said outer fold lines.
10. A package according to claim 1 wherein the package comprises an outer sleeve and a lockable receptacle, the outer sleeve providing a cavity for the lockable receptacle, the two-part locking mechanism for locking the lockable receptacle within the cavity of the outer sleeve and wherein the release mechanism is operable such that the lockable receptacle can be at least partially withdrawn from the outer sleeve.
11. A package according to claim 10 wherein the depressible tab is symmetrical in shape about a notional central axis of the depressible tab.
12. A package according to claim 11 wherein the notional central axis extends between said two outer fold lines.
13. A package according to claim 12 wherein the notional central axis is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the outer sleeve or wherein the notional central axis is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the outer sleeve.
14. A package according to claim 12 wherein the notional central axis is disposed at a non-normal angle relative to a longitudinal axis or lateral axis of the outer sleeve.
15. A package according to claim 14 wherein the non-normal angle is between about 35\xb0 and about 55\xb0.
16. A package according to claim 15 wherein the non-normal angle is about 45\xb0.
17. A package according to claim 10 wherein the outer sleeve comprises a closed rear end and an open or openable front end through which the lockable receptacle is insertable and through which the lockable receptacle is withdrawable.
18. A package according to claim 10 wherein the panel is an outer top panel of the outer sleeve and wherein the outer sleeve additionally comprises a bottom panel spaced from said outer top panel by first and second adjoining side panels and wherein an inner top panel is provided, the inner top panel being affixed in face contacting relationship to the outer top panel and comprising the first part of the two-part locking mechanism and comprising a moveable tab which forms part of the release mechanism.
19. A package according to claim 18 wherein the first part of the two-part locking mechanism comprises a locking edge defined by an aperture in the inner top panel disposed beneath said outer top panel; wherein the lockable receptacle comprises a folded locking foot, a free edge of which is receivable within the aperture and catchable against said locking edge for locking the lockable receptacle within the outer sleeve and wherein the depressible zone and movable tab are positioned and arranged such that depression of the depressible zone causes the depressible zone to bow beneath the plane of the outer top panel and which causes the moveable tab to move and cause the folded locking tail foot to be disengaged from the locking edge.
20. A package according to claim 19 wherein said moveable tab comprises: an anchored portion attached to the inner top panel of the outer sleeve; a front edge defined by the aperture; a first side edge and a second side edge; wherein the first and second side edges of the moveable tab are cut or frangible edges; wherein the first and second side edges are parallel to one another; and wherein the moveable tab is substantially \u201cU\u201d-shaped.
21. A package according to claim 20 wherein an outer top panel of the outer sleeve comprises a demarcated pressing zone disposed in registry with the depressible zone to assist a user in correctly directing an applied force toward said moveable tab such that sufficient depression of the moveable tab occurs to cause the two-part locking mechanism to be unlocked.
22. An outer sleeve for use in the package according to claim 10.
23. A blank of foldable material structured and arranged for being assembled into the outer sleeve of claim 22, the blank comprising a series of panels for forming walls of the outer sleeve including a first top panel in which the depressible zone defined by two oppositely positioned and spaced cut or frangible side edges is integrally formed.

1. A system for providing mathematical modeling in an object-oriented software environment, comprising:
a processor operable to execute instructions contained in computer program code; and
at least one computer readable medium including:
a first computer program code providing a programming language that is general purpose and object oriented; and
a second computer program code providing a modeling language utilizing the programming language, the modeling language providing high level semantics operable to support application software using statements from both the programming language and the modeling language mixed in a single string, the modeling language semantics representing mathematical expressions in a plurality of mathematical algorithms to be represented using the modeling language;
wherein said first and second computer program code include instructions for representing the mathematical algorithm using the modeling language, solving the mathematical expressions, and producing an output solution and corresponding graphical results displayed in response thereto without requiring manual reentering of data to implement a numerical instance of the mathematical expression at runtime.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a compiler associated with the programming language, the modeling language relying on the compiler associated with the general purpose object oriented programming language.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language is provided by libraries, the libraries including at least a model class for creating a model object, the model class providing at least a method for adding an objective function to a mathematical programming model.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides at least a model class for creating a model object, the model class including at least a method for adding a type of constraint to the model object.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports creating a mathematical programming model, the modeling language providing at least a method for removing an objective function from the mathematical programming model.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports creating a mathematical programming model, the modeling language providing at least a method for removing a type of constraint from the mathematical programming model.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports creating a mathematical programming model, the modeling language providing instructions for:
generating a numerical instance of the mathematical programming model based on instance data associated with one or more parameters and one or more index sets of the mathematical programming model, and
passing the instance data to a mathematical programming solver that can solve a numerical model associated with the numerical instance.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports creating a mathematical programming model, the modeling language providing instructions for:
generating an incremental change to a numerical instance of the mathematical programming model, and
passing the incremental change to a mathematical programming solver.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports a mathematical programming model object that stores one or more abstract formulas representing a mathematical programming model associated with the mathematical programming model object without incurring storage costs associated with a numerical instance of the mathematical programming model.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides a class for representing at least one index that is capable of:
referring to an element in a one-dimensional set; and
referring to one dimension of an element in a multi-dimensional set, the element of the multi-dimensional set is capable of being used to address
a particular decision variable in an array of decision variables, and
a particular parameter in an array of parameters.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports constructors to construct an index set object from one or more existing index set objects of lower dimension.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides at least an index set class supporting constructors to construct an index set object, having a restricted index set, from another existing index set object having an existing index set by forming the restricted index set from a subset of the existing index set of the existing index set object.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides at least an index set class supporting an index set object representing a set, the index set object being of a type that does not explicitly store elements of the set.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides an index set class supporting:
representing a set; and
an iterator that is capable of traversing each element in the set.
15. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides at least an index set class supporting creating a lower dimension index set object by fixing a value in a dimension of a higher dimension index set object.
16. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports at least distinguishing whether an index set of an index set object is part of an initial building state or part of an incremental change state, and if the index set is part of the incremental change state, keeping track of incremental changes made to the index set.
17. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides at least a variable array class to represent an array of decision variables in a mathematical programming model, and the variable array class supports at least:
defining a variable array on a one-dimensional set;
defining a variable array on a multi-dimensional set;
setting at least one bound for at least one decision variable selected from the array of decision variables;
building the mathematical programming model using expressions containing the array of decision variables; and
referring to decision variables associated with the array of decision variables by using an object handle together with at least one index.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports at least a parameter array class that represents an array of parameters and a method of the class for setting a type of a parameter array object as a parameter array that forwards a request to look up a particular parameter in the parameter array to an external object and has no need to explicitly store any parameter in the parameter array object.
19. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides a class, to be referred to as a range class, that represents a valid region within a set, and the range class supports specifying a valid range for a set of constraints.
20. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides a class, to be referred to as a range class, that represents a valid region within a set, and the range class supports specifying a valid range to compute a summation.
21. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides a base class representing an array of algebra expressions that contains at least one decision variable and a plurality of subclasses representing specific types of algebra expression arrays.
22. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides a class, as a subclass of an algebra expression array class, that supports a summation of an indexed algebra expression array over an index set.
23. The system of claim 1, wherein the high level modeling language provides overloaded operators, such that an algebra expression array object can be formed using component algebra expression array objects joined by one of the overloaded operators.
24. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides:
a base class for representing constant expression arrays that do not contain decision variables, and
a plurality of subclasses for representing specific types of the constant expression arrays, one category of the plurality of subclasses being for representing constant expression arrays having integer values.
25. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language:
supports building a mathematical programming model by at least adding a constraint type to the mathematical programming model; and
enables an index expression object to refer to
a particular decision variable within an array of decision variables referenced by the constraint type, and
a particular parameter within an array of parameters referenced by the constraint type.
26. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language provides at least one comparison operator, and the high level modeling language supports:
a constraint type of a mathematical programming model being expressible without specifying a valid range of the constraint type, the constraint type being expressible as an algebraic expression array object on a left hand side of the comparison operator and a constant expression array object on a right hand side of the comparison operator; and
a range object to specify the valid range of the constraint type.
27. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling language supports a predicate object that is useable in a constructor of a range object, therein restricting the index set that the range object represents.
28. A computer program product embedded in a computer readable medium for providing mathematical modeling in an object-oriented software environment, comprising:
computer program code providing a C++ programming environment;
computer program code providing C++ libraries, having at least:
an index class representing at least one index,

an index set class representing an index set that is capable of being one dimensional or multi-dimensional,
a range class that represents a range of values that an element of the index set can take,
a variable array class that represents an array of decision variables having at least one decision variable,
a parameter array class that represents an array of parameters,
an algebraic expression array class that represents an array of algebraic expressions that contain the at least one decision variable,
a sum class representing a summation of the algebraic expressions as a sub type of the algebraic expression array class,
a variable array in expression class creating an object that is returned by a \u201c( )\u201d operator of the variable array class,
a constant expression array class that represents an array of constant expressions that do not contain decision variables,
a set of overloaded computation operators capable of returning an algebraic expression array object, a constant expression array object, and an index expression object,
a parameter array in expression class creating an object that is returned by a \u201c( )\u201d operator of the parameter array class,
a predicate class that represents a predicate,

an unbounded constraint array class that represents a type of constraint without specifying a range for the constraint,
a constraint array class that represents a constraint type and capable of creating a constraint array object having one object of the unbounded constraint array class to describe the constraint and one range object to specify the range,
a set of overloaded comparison operators that are capable of returning a predicate object and the constraint array object, and

a mathematical model class, that represents a mathematical programming model capable of at least adding an objective function to the mathematical programming model that is capable of being the array of algebraic expressions, adding the constraint type to the mathematical programming model, and associating the mathematical programming model with a mathematical programming solver; computer program code for modeling a mathematical algorithm using a high level modeling language built using the C++ programming environment and the C++ libraries; and
computer program code for solving the mathematical algorithm modeled using the modeling language coupled with the programming language and producing an output solution and the corresponding graphical results displayed in response thereto without requiring manual reentering of data to implement a numerical instance of the mathematical expression at runtime.
29. A system for providing mathematical modeling in an object oriented software environment, comprising:
means for providing a general purpose language that is an object oriented programming language; means for compiling the programming language; means for providing a modeling language, using the programming language without a separate compiler or interpreter, the modeling language providing semantics, providing expressions from both the programming language and the modeling language operable to be written in a single string; means for solving a mathematical algorithm executed using the modeling language and producing an output solution and the corresponding graphical results displayed in response thereto without requiring manually reentering data to implement a numerical instance of the mathematical expression at runtime.
30. (canceled)

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. Bimetallic thermostat with exchange contact comprising an external support covering and an internal device made up of a pierced base provided with a packing and with electric contacts with the outside, of a relay electrically connected with said base and of a sensitive thermostatic element electrically connected with said relay, characterized in that it additionally comprises a printed circuit interposed between the sensing element and the relay.
2. Thermostat according to claim 1, wherein said relay is electrically connected with said base by means of electric wires.
3. Thermostat according to claim 1, wherein said sensing element is connected with said plate by means of feet.
4. Thermostat according to claim 1, wherein said electric contacts with the outside consist of external feet with which said electric wires are connected.
5. Thermostat according to claim 1, wherein said external covering is partially provided with an external connection thread.