Author: claimsbot

1. A method for assembling first and second tubes having substantially the same constant diameter comprising:
selecting a first tube having a first axis and first and second ends, at least said second end having an end face substantially perpendicular to said first axis;
selecting a second tube having a second axis and first and second ends, at least said first end having an end face substantially perpendicular to said second axis;
fixing a first radially projecting anchor to an outside surface of said first tube adjacent the second end of said first tube with an axial portion of said first tube exposed between said first radially projecting anchor and the end face of said second end;
fixing a plurality of threaded pins to an outside surface of said second tube adjacent the first end of said second tube with an axial portion of said second tube exposed between said plurality of threaded pins and said end face;
configuring said threaded pins to extend substantially parallel to said second axis and axially beyond said second end;
attaching said first tube second end to said second tube first end by:
passing said threaded pins through said radially projecting anchor; and
threadably engaging a nut with each of said threaded pins;

adjusting the relative lateral positions of said first and second tubes so that the end faces are radially and axially aligned;
adjusting the relative rotational positions of said first and second tubes to form a selected tubular configuration defined by said first and second axes; and
tightening said nuts to secure said first tube to said second tube with said end faces in contact to form a circumferential butt joint, said joint being accessible at a plurality of locations distributed about said joint, said threaded pins, anchor and nuts applying an axial compression force and rotational stability to said circumferential butt joint sufficient to maintain the alignment of said end faces and the selected tubular configuration.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of fixing a first radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a plurality of said anchors to an outside surface of said first tube at substantially axially aligned locations distributed about a circumference of said first tube.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of welding comprises:
arranging said anchors equidistantly about the circumference of said first tube.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said fixing a plurality of threaded pins comprises:
welding each said threaded pin to an outside surface of said second tube at substantially axially aligned locations distributed about a circumference of said second tube.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of configuring said threaded pins comprises:
bending said threaded pins from an orientation substantially perpendicular to said second axis to an orientation substantially parallel to said second axis so that a free end of each threaded pin.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of fixing a first radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a plurality of studs to an outside surface of said first tube at substantially axially aligned locations distributed about a circumference of said first tube; and
installing a circumferential collar about said first tube and plurality of studs, said collar defining an annular groove configured to receive said studs and permit rotational movement of said collar relative to said first tube while said studs and said collar interfit to prevent axial movement of the collar toward the end face of said first tube second end.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of fixing a first radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a split collar to said first tube second end at a selected axial position, said anchor defining a plurality of axially oriented arcuate slots arranged to receive said threaded pins.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of fixing a first radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a threaded stud to an outside surface of said first tube;
placing a right angle bracket over said threaded stud;
threadably engaging a nut with said threaded stud; and
tightening said nut to secure said right angle bracket to said second tube with a portion of said right angle bracket projecting radially from said first tube outside surface.
9. The method of claim 1, comprising:
tack welding said first tube second end to said second tube first end at a plurality of said accessible locations to fix said first and second tubes in the relative positions secured by said threaded pins, anchor and nuts;
loosening and removing said nuts;
removing said radially projecting anchor;
removing said plurality of threaded pins; and
completing a weld around the circumferential butt joint.
10. A system for producing non-linear tubular assemblies from straight tube portions and tube bend portions of a substantially the same substantially constant diameter comprising:
providing a plurality of tube bend portions defining a range of tube bend angles, each said tube bend portion having an outside surface extending between first and second ends and including a first plurality of threaded pins secured to said outside surface adjacent said first end and a second plurality of threaded pins secured to said outside surface adjacent said second end, each of the threaded pins in said first plurality configured to extend generally parallel to said outside surface and axially beyond the first end, and each of the threaded pins in said second plurality configured to extend generally parallel to said outside surface and axially beyond said second end;
cutting a straight tube to form said straight tube portions;
selecting a first tube from said straight tube portions, said first tube having a first axis and a first free end to be joined, said first free end having a first end face;
selecting a second tube from said tube bend portions, said second tube having a second axis and a second free end to be joined, said second free end having a second end face;
fixing a radially projecting anchor to said first tube adjacent said first free end, said anchor defining at least one aperture;
attaching said first free end to said second free end by:
passing said threaded pins through said at least one aperture; and
threadably engaging a nut with each of said threaded pins;

adjusting the relative lateral positions of said first and second tubes so that said first and second end faces are radially and axially aligned;
adjusting the relative rotational positions of said first and second tubes to form a selected tubular configuration; and
tightening said nuts to secure said first tube to said second tube with said end faces in contact to form a circumferential butt joint, said joint being accessible at a plurality of locations distributed about said joint, said threaded pins, anchor and nuts applying an axial compression force and rotational stability to said circumferential butt joint sufficient to maintain the alignment of said end faces and the selected tubular configuration.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said tube bend portions are provided in a range of tube bend angles between approximately 50 and approximately 1400.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of providing comprises:
providing said tube bend portions in approximately 20 increments over a range of between approximately 50 and approximately 1400.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of fixing a first radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a plurality of said anchors to an outside surface of said first tube at substantially axially aligned locations distributed about a circumference of said first tube.
14. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of providing comprises:
welding said first plurality of threaded pins at equiangularly spaced locations of said outside surface adjacent said first end; and
welding said second plurality of threaded pins at equiangularly spaced locations of said outside surface adjacent said second end,
wherein said first plurality of threaded pins are rotationally offset from said second plurality of threaded pins.
15. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of fixing a radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a plurality of studs to an outside surface of said first tube at substantially axially aligned locations distributed about a circumference of said first tube; and
installing a circumferential collar about said first tube and plurality of studs, said collar defining at least one groove configured to receive said studs and permit rotational movement of said collar relative to said first tube while said studs and said collar interfit to prevent axial movement of the collar toward the end face of said first tube second end.
16. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of fixing a radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a split collar to said first free end at a selected axial position, said anchor defining a plurality of axially oriented arcuate apertures arranged to receive said threaded pins.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of fixing a radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a threaded stud to an outside surface of said first tube at a selected axial location;
placing a right angle bracket over said threaded stud;
threadably engaging a nut with said threaded stud; and
tightening said nut to secure said right angle bracket to said second tube with a portion of said right angle bracket projecting radially from said first tube outside surface.
18. The method of claim 10, comprising:
tack welding said first free end to said second free end at a plurality of said accessible locations to fix said first and second tubes in the relative positions secured by said threaded pins, anchor and nuts;
loosening and removing said nuts;
removing said radially projecting anchor;
removing said plurality of threaded pins; and
completing a weld around the circumferential butt joint.
19. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of fixing a radially projecting anchor comprises:
welding a right angle bracket to an outside surface of said first tube at a plurality of axially aligned locations selected to be in axial alignment with said first or second plurality of threaded pins.
20. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of providing comprises:
welding said first plurality of threaded pins at equiangularly spaced locations of said outside surface adjacent said first end, said first plurality comprising three threaded pins; and
welding said second plurality of threaded pins at equiangularly spaced locations of said outside surface adjacent said second end, said second plurality comprising three threaded pins,
wherein said first plurality of threaded pins are rotationally offset approximately 60\xb0 from said second plurality of threaded pins.

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 system that facilitates managing a network by mining communication rules, the system comprising:
at least one memory;
at least one processor;
an analysis engine that looks at a portion of network traffic related to a network in order to obtain timing information, wherein the network includes at least one of a host, a protocol, or an application;
a traffic evaluator that extracts communication rules for the network, a communication rule being a representation of an underlying dependency between two or more flows as manifested in network traffic and a communication rule being mined by the traffic evaluator to identify such underlying dependency, at least one of the communication rules comprising at least one of a predicted flow or a predicted activity of a flow, at least one of the communication rules comprising a deduction that at least one flow precedes or succeeds at least one or more other flow, and the traffic evaluator leverages the communication rules to provide network management, the network management being at least one of network monitoring, network diagnosis or network intrusion detection; and
a universal dependency identifier that employs one or more wild cards to relax one or more fields in one or more flows to create generic communication rules, the generic communication rules comprising a subset of the communication rules, at least one of the generic communication rules based upon an identification of a dependency associated with a plurality of sources, or a plurality of applications communicating with one or a plurality of destinations and the one or the plurality of destinations communicating with one or a plurality of other destinations.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein a flow is a communication between a source and a destination within the network, at least one of the source or the destination is at least one of a local Internet Protocol (IP), a local port, a remote IP, a remote port or a protocol.
3. The system of claim 1, at least one of the communication rules for the network is based upon employing a data-mining technique on top of an activity matrix generated from the timing information, the activity matrix includes at least one of a row for a time window of a packet trace, a column for a flow in the packet trace and an entry representing a new, present or absent activity of the flow in the packet trace.
4. The system of claim 1, at least one of the communication rules is related to at least one of normal behavior of applications in the network, a misconfiguration of the network or anomalousmalicious traffic in the network.
5. The system of claim 1, at least one of the communication rules is utilized for at least one of following purposes:
detecting a configuration error within the network;
detecting malicious or abnormal activity in the network; or
providing information related to how applications in the network are functioning.
6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a flow pair component that:
identifies communication rules based upon a correlation between flow-groups in the network traffic; and
determines when one or more communication rules has at least one flow-group having independent flows, wherein independent flows comprise flows with no source or destination in common.
7. The system of claim 6, each flow in the flow-groups has activity at least one of present, absent, or new.
8. The system of claim 6, the flow pair component identifies statistically significant dependences for at least one pair of flows by using scoring functions from data-mining, at least one of the scoring functions comprising a JMeasure, the JMeasure identifying a reduction in entropy of at least one communication rule, and modifying the scoring functions to apply for the networking domain.
9. The system of claim 6, the flow pair component uses a scoring function that does at least one of the following:
scores groups of flows higher that co-occur more frequently;
scores groups of flows lower that have independent flows;
scores a group of flows higher as a conditional probability of one flow in the group happening when another flow in the group happens increases;
encodes directionality in rules;
corrects a bias towards flows that happen frequently;
corrects for the negative correlation bias; or
biases search towards flow groups that are more likely to be relevant.
10. The system of claim 1, the universal dependency identifier creates at least one of the generic communication rules by treating one or more of the following kinds of pluralities as a single group for purposes of correlation:
one or more ports that may be used by one or more applications;
one or more source IPs to identify one or more clients to a server; and
one or more server IPs to identify a functionally similar group of servers, which includes at least one of a set of equivalent DNS servers, Domain Controller servers, WINS servers or a web server cluster.
11. The system of claim 1, the universal dependency identifier utilizes a template to instantiate at least one of the generic communication rules, the template selected from a group consisting of a relaxation template having one or more wild cards to relax one or more fields in one or more flows, a Server-Backend template having one or more wild cards to relax one or more fields in one or more flows associated with a backend dependency of a server and a Client-Frontend template having one or more wild cards to relax one or more fields in one or more flows associated with a frontend dependency of a client.
12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a rule generator that mines network traffic for communication rules, wherein the rule generator computes frequencies for the communication rules based upon counting the flow pairs that are active within a time window in the traffic.
13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a rule generator that utilizes a rule graph that consists of nodes corresponding to both flows and pluralities and includes a directed link between pairs of nodes that are linked by a communication rule; and the traffic evaluator obtains clusters of related rules based at least in part upon a spectral partition of the rule graph, the spectral partition obtained based in part on determining a Laplacian of at least a portion of the rule graph.
14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a real time stream component that provides dynamic and real time evaluation of the timing information to yield communication rules associated with the network in real time.
15. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one generic communication rule based upon an identification of a dependency associated with a plurality of sources, or a plurality of applications communicating with one or a plurality of destinations and also dependencies associated with a source or application communicating with a plurality of destinations.
16. A computer-implemented method that facilitates managing a network, the method comprising:
receiving a portion of data associated with one or more packet traces on a network;
generating an activity matrix from the one or more packet traces to identify activity of traffic flows between sources and destinations within the network;
employing a data-mining technique on top of the activity matrix;
determining correlated occurrences between the traffic flows based at least in part on the employing of the data-mining technique;
analyzing the correlated occurrences to determine underlying dependencies and generic dependencies between the traffic flows;
utilizing templates that employ one or more wild cards to relax one or more fields in one or more of the traffic flows to abstract away parts of the traffic flows, the templates being defined based at least in part on the generic dependencies; and
generating communication rules, each communication rule being based on at least one of the templates or at least one of the underlying dependencies.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
dynamically receiving the portion of data associated with the one or more packet traces in real time;
determining the correlated occurrences in real time;
analyzing the correlated occurrences in real time; and
generating the communication rules in real time.
18. The method of claim 16, further comprising at least one of:
utilizing at least one of the communication rules to evaluate data packet traffic within the network;
utilizing at least one of the communication rules to detect a configuration error within the network; and
utilizing at least one of the communication rules to detect malicious traffic within the network.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
filtering at least one of the communication rules according to at least one of a threshold, a conditional probability or a support metric for pluralities, the filtering utilizing a scoring function to provide at least one of:
a scoring of groups of traffic flows higher that co-occur more frequently;
scoring a group of traffic flows higher as a conditional probability of one traffic flow in the group happening when another traffic flow in the group happens increases;
encoding directionality in rules;
correcting a bias towards traffic flows that happen frequently;
correcting for the negative correlation bias; or
biasing search towards traffic flow groups that are more likely to be relevant;

detecting a configuration error within the network with at least one communication rule;
detecting malicious or abnormal activity in the network with at least one communication rule; and
providing information related to how applications in the network are functioning with at least one communication rule.
20. A computer-implemented method that facilitates managing a network by leveraging data mining, the method comprising:
employing packet traces within a network in order to provide timing information, the network includes at least one of a host, a protocol, or an application;
generating an activity matrix from the timing information, the activity matrix includes at least one of a row for a time window in the packet traces, a column for a flow in the packet traces and an entry representing a new, present or absent activity of the flow in the packet traces;
extracting communication rules for the network, the extracting comprising employing the data mining on the activity matrix for determining dependencies between flows in the packet traces, the determining being based on at least one time window associated with multiple of the flows and each entry representing the new, present or absent activity associated with each of the multiple of the flows, the communication rules comprising a filtered communication rule and a generic communication rule;
filtering at least one of the communication rules to generate the filtered communication rule, the filtered communication rule having a modified significance score based in part on determined dependencies between one or more flows associated with the filtered communication rule;
identifying the generic communication rule based at least in part on the determining dependencies between flows in the packet traces, the generic communication rule employing wild cards to relax one or more fields in one or more corresponding flows between at least one source and at least one destination and the at least one destination and at least one other destination;
utilizing the communication rules to provide information related to data packet traffic within the network;
utilizing the communication rules to detect a configuration error within the network; and
utilizing the communication rules to detect malicious traffic within the network.

1. An antimicrobial fluid conduit, comprising:
a wall defining a fluid pathway, the wall including a surface upon which is disposed a plastic polymer layer having dispersed therein antimicrobial particles, the plastic polymer layer having a thickness between about 1.73 to 2.5 times the nominal size of the antimicrobial particles so as to substantially constrain the antimicrobial particles to a region at a surface of the plastic polymer layer.
2. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the surface is the inner surface of the wall.
3. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the surface is the outer surface of the wall.
4. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein:
the wall is composed of a plastic polymer; and
the wall and the plastic polymer layer having been adhered through co-extrusion.
5. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the wall is composed of one or more polymers selected from the group consisting of thermoformable polymers and thermosetting polymers.
6. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the plastic polymer layer is composed of one or more polymers selected from the group consisting of thermoformable polymers and thermosetting polymers.
7. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the antimicrobial particles include one or more inorganic antimicrobial additives.
8. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 7, wherein the antimicrobial particles comprise a combination of copper and silver particles.
9. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the antimicrobial particles are carried in a carrier selected from the group consisting of zeolites, zirconium phosphate and dissolvable glass.
10. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the wall defines a substantially circular cross-sectional area having a diameter ranging from about 0.1 inches to 18 feet.
11. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein in the wall defines a hollow tube.
12. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the wall comprises a pipe.
13. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein:
the wall comprises a metallic pipe; and
the plastic layer comprises a subsequently applied film.
14. The antimicrobial fluid conduit of claim 1, wherein the plastic polymer layer further includes additives embedded therein selected from the group consisting of hydrophilic materials, hydrophobic materials, flame retarders, anti-odor additives, and anti-stain materials.

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 optical assembly for connection to a fiber termination, the optical assembly comprising:
a body,
a blind socket in the body to receive a fiber termination, said blind socket having an end face, and
an optical device supported by the body in a fixed position in relation to the socket,
the body including a vent for excess fiber-bonding epoxy during insertion of a fiber into the blind socket, said vent extending from the end face of the blind socket for at least some of a length of the blind socket to form a reservoir for holding the excess epoxy.
2. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the socket is shaped for a friction fit of a fiber termination.
3. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vent extends at right angles to an axial direction of the blind socket.
4. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vent is in a shape of an elongate slot extending for at least part of the length of the blind socket.
5. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the socket is of circular cross-section having a diameter matching that of a fiber termination for a friction fit, and the cross-sectional shape is uniform along the length of the blind socket.
6. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical device is mounted on an electrical lead frame.
7. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical device is mounted on an electrical lead frame, and part of the lead frame is encapsulated in the body, and electrical terminals of the lead frame protrude from the body.
8. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical device is mounted on an electrical lead frame, and part of the lead frame is encapsulated in the body, and electrical terminals of the lead frame protrude from the body, and the lead frame extends substantially parallel to the end face of the blind socket.
9. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical device is mounted on an electrical lead frame, and the lead frame supports an insulation plate, and the optical device is mounted on the insulation plate.
10. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical device is mounted on an electrical lead frame, and the lead frame supports at least one decoupling capacitor embedded within the body.
11. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical device is mounted on an electrical lead frame, and the lead frame is of generally rectangular overall shape, and there is a decoupling capacitor at two corners of the lead frame.
12. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a gap of body material between the optical device and the socket end face.
13. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the socket end face is planar.
14. The optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, comprising a mirror for direction of light between the optical device and the fiber.
15. An optical fiber product comprising the assembly as claimed in claim 1 and an optical fiber having a termination inserted in the blind socket and secured in place by a bonding agent.
16. The optical fiber product as claimed in claim 15, wherein said body forms part of an optical path between the fiber and the optical device.
17. A method of connecting a fiber termination to the optical assembly as claimed in claim 1, comprising the steps of:
applying a bonding composition to one of the fiber termination and the blind socket,
pushing the fiber termination into the blind socket until an optimum position is reached at which optical coupling between the fiber and the optical device in the assembly is satisfactory, and
curing the bonding composition while retaining the fiber termination at an optimum position.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the optical device is an opto-electronic receiver device, a test optical signal is directed through the fiber, and an electronic signal output of said device is monitored to determine the optimum fiber termination position.
19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the optical device is a transmitter, and light output at a far end of the fiber is monitored to determine the optimum fiber termination position.