Author: claimsbot

1. A separator for separating entrained particles from a fluid flow, the separator comprising:
(a) a cyclone chamber an outer wall and a cyclonic flow region, the cyclonic flow region having a radial width, an outer peripheral portion, a medial portion disposed interior of the peripheral portion and an inner portion disposed interior of the medial portion;
(b) a fluid inlet for introducing a cyclonic fluid flow to the cyclonic flow region;
(c) a fluid outlet for removing the fluid flow from the cyclone chamber;
(d) a particle separating member positioned in the cyclone chamber beneath at least a portion of the cyclonic flow region, the particle separating member having a plurality of apertures; and,
(e) a particle receiving chamber disposed beneath the particle separating member for receiving particles passing into the particle receiving chamber through the apertures
wherein the apertures are disposed on the particle separating member such that the medial portion of the cyclonic flow region is substantially free from said apertures.
2. The separator of claim 1 wherein the peripheral portion of the cyclonic flow region comprises one quarter of the radial width of the cyclonic flow portion.
3. The separator of claim 2 wherein the medial portion of the cyclonic flow region comprises one half of the radial width of the cyclonic flow portion.
4. The separator of claim 1 wherein the particle receiving chamber comprises a sealed chamber except for the apertures.
5. The separator of claim 1 wherein the particle receiving chamber is in communication with a conduit for transporting separated particles downstream from the particle receiving chamber.
6. The separator of claim 1 further comprising:
(a) a cleaner head adapted for movement over a floor and having a fluid nozzle positionable adjacent the floor, the nozzle in fluid flow communication via a passageway with the separator fluid inlet;
(b) a handle for moving the cleaner head over the floor; and,
(c) a casing for housing the cyclone chamber.
7. The separator of claim 6 wherein the casing is pivotally mounted to the cleaner head.
8. The separator of claim 6 wherein the passageway comprises a flexible portion that is positioned external of the cleaner head and the casing and the handle is affixed to the cleaner head.
9. The separator of claim 1 wherein the apertures are sized to inhibit elongate particles from passing there through, whereby elongate particles collect on top of the particle separating member.
10. The separator of claim 1 wherein the apertures are shaped to aerodynamically direct particles from the cyclonic flow region into the particle receiving chamber.
11. The separator of claim 1 wherein the apertures comprise slits having longitudinally extending upstream and downstream edges relative to the fluid flow and transversely extending sides and the edges are longer than the sides.
12. The separator of claim 11 wherein the length of the edges are substantially aligned with the radial width of the cyclone chamber.
13. The separator of claim 11 wherein the length of the edges define a longitudinally extending axis which are at an angle of up to 45 \xb0 to the radius of the cyclonic flow region.
14. The separator of claim 1 wherein the apertures have an radial outer end and a radial inner end and the radial outer end is positioned adjacent the outer wall of the cyclone chamber.
15. The separator of claim 1 wherein the apertures have an upstream edge and downstream edge, relative to the fluid flow and the thickness of the particle separating member is reduced adjacent the upstream edge of the apertures.
16. The separator of claim 15 wherein the particle separating member has an upper surface and a lower surface and the upper surface is angled towards the particle receiving chamber adjacent the upstream edge and the lower surface is angled away from the aperture adjacent the downstream edge.
17. The separator of claim 1 wherein the particle separating member is disposed substantially perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the cyclonic flow region.
18. The separator of claim 1 wherein the particle separating member is disposed at an angle to a longitudinal axis of the cyclonic flow region.
19. The separator of claim 1 wherein the particle separating member is convex or concave.
20. The separator of claim 1 wherein the particle separating member extends under all of the cyclonic flow region to define bottom surface of the cyclonic flow region.

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 communication connection bypass method for a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes that include an ingress node and an egress node, and a plurality of links that interconnect the plurality of nodes, a main communication connection being established in the connection-oriented network to connect the ingress node and the egress node, the main communication connection serving as a communication connection for transmitting data,
wherein said method comprises the step of establishing at least one backup communication connection with at least one node excluding the egress node and functioning as a starting node when a failure occurs at one of the nodes or links on the main communication connection, such that a data transfer route is switched from the main communication connection to said at least one backup communication connection,
wherein the route between the node functioning as the starting node for said at least one backup communication connection and the egress node is established such that the route does not include any of the links and nodes on the main communication connection.
wherein a plurality of the backup communication connections are established, and one of the backup communication connections merges into another one of the backup communication connections at a node en route.
2. A node for use in a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes that include an ingress node and an egress node, and a plurality of links that interconnect the plurality of nodes, a main communication connection being established in the connection-oriented network to connect the ingress node and the egress node, the main communication connection serving as a communication connection for transmitting data,
wherein each of the nodes excluding the egress node comprises:
means for calculating a route that does not include any of the links and nodes on the main communication connection between the node and the egress node; and
means for establishing a backup communication connection on the calculated route for protecting the main communication connection,
wherein a plurality of the backup communication connections are established, and one of the backup communication connections merges into another one of the backup communication connections at a node en route.
3. A node according to claim 2, wherein the ingress node establishes the backup communication connection when the setup of the main communication connection is completed.
4. A node according to claim 2, wherein, when the setup of the backup communication connection is completed, the ingress node transmits a message requesting the setup of an additional backup communication connection to a next-hop node on the main communication connection.
5. A node according to claim 2, wherein, upon receiving a message requesting the setup of a backup communication connection from a previous-hop node on the main communication connection, each of the nodes excluding the ingress node and the egress node establishes the backup communication connection.
6. A node according to claim 5, wherein, when the setup of the backup communication connection is completed, each of the nodes excluding the ingress node and the egress node transmits a message requesting the setup of an additional backup communication connection to a next-hop node on the main communication connection.
7. A node according to claim 5, wherein, when the setup of the backup communication connection is completed, each of the nodes excluding the ingress node and the egress node transmits a message to the ingress node for notifying that the setup of the backup communication connection is completed.
8. A node according to claim 5, wherein, when the setup of the backup communication connection is completed, each of the nodes excluding the ingress node and the egress node determines whether or not the node is located at a hop directly before the egress node, and when the node is located at the hop directly before the egress node, said each of the nodes transmits a message to the ingress node for notifying that the setup of all backup communication connections for protecting the main communication connection is completed.
9. A node according to claim 2, wherein, upon receiving a message requesting the setup of a backup communication connection from a next-hop node on the main communication connection, each of the nodes excluding the ingress node and the egress node establishes the backup communication connection.
10. A node according to claim 9, wherein, when the setup of the backup communication connection is completed, each of the nodes excluding the ingress node and the egress node transmits a message requesting the setup of an additional backup communication connection to a previous-hop node on the main communication connection.
11. A node according to claim 2, wherein, upon receiving a message requesting the setup of a backup communication connection from a previous-hop node on the main communication connection, the egress node transmits to the ingress node a message for notifying that the setup of all backup communication connections for protecting the main communication connection is completed.
12. A server for use in a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes that include an ingress node and an egress node, a plurality of links that interconnect the plurality of nodes, and at least one server capable of communicating with the plurality of nodes, a main communication connection being established in the connection-oriented network to connect the ingress node and the egress node, the main communication connection serving as a communication connection for transmitting data,
wherein, when a failure occurs at one of the nodes or links on the main communication connection in the connection-oriented network, at least one backup communication connection is established with at least one node excluding the egress node and functioning as a starting node, and a data transfer route is switched from the main communication connection to said at least one backup communication connection,
said at least one server comprising calculation means for calculating the route between the node that functions as the starting node for said at least one backup communication connection and the egress node such that the route does not include any of the links and nodes on the main communication connection,
wherein a plurality of the backup communication connections are established, and one of the backup communication connections merges into another one of the backup communication connections at a node en route.
13. A server according to claim 12, further comprising communication means for communicating with the plurality of nodes, wherein, upon calculating the route, the calculation means transmits a message requesting the setup of said at least one backup communication connection to the plurality of nodes on the main communication connection via the communication means, the message including information concerning the calculated route.
14. A node excluding the egress node on the main communication connection, set forth in claim 13, the node further comprising means for establishing a backup communication connection for protecting the main communication connection on the route for the backup communication connection included in the message requesting the setup.
15. A node for use in a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes that include an ingress node and an egress node, and a plurality of links that interconnect the plurality of nodes, a main communication connection being established in the connection-oriented network to connect the ingress node and the egress node, the main communication connection serving as a communication connection for transmitting data,
wherein, upon receiving a message requesting binding of a connection identifier for a backup communication connection for protecting the main communication connections, each of the nodes excluding the egress node selects another communication connection as a communication connection into which a merge is to be performed at one of the nodes en route on a data transfer route, and merges the backup communication connection being established with respect to the message into the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed.
16. A node according to claim 15, wherein the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed is another backup communication connection for protecting the main communication connection.
17. A node according to claim 15, wherein a condition for the merge is that the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed has resources required by the backup communication connection being established, and
wherein, when the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed does not have resources that satisfy the condition for the merge, the merge is performed after the resources are increased by an amount corresponding to the shortage in a segment downstream from a node at which the merge is to be performed.
18. A communication connection bypass method for a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of nodes,
wherein a plurality of main communication connections, each serving as a communication connection for transferring data, are established between two nodes in the connection-oriented network with one node being an ingress node and the other being an egress node, and the main communication connections do not share any of the links and nodes between the ingress node and the egress node with each other,
said method comprising the step of establishing a backup communication connection for each main communication connection when a failure occurs at one of the nodes or links on the main communication connection, such that a data transfer route is switched from the main communication connection to the backup communication connection,
wherein the backup communication connection is established with at least one node excluding the egress node and functioning as a starting node, and the route between the node functioning as the starting node for the backup communication connection and the egress node does not include any of the links and nodes on the main communication connection to be protected by the backup communication connection, and
wherein the backup communication connection merges into another backup communication connection established for protecting one of the main communication connections or into one of the main communication connections excluding the main communication connection to be protected by the backup communication connection at a node en route on a data transfer route.
19. A node for use in a communication connection bypass method for a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of nodes,
wherein a plurality of main communication connections, each serving as a communication connection for transferring data, are established between two nodes in the connection-oriented network with one node being an ingress node and the other being an egress node, and the main communication connections do not share any of the links and nodes between the ingress node and the egress node with each other, and
wherein, when the setup of the plurality of main communication connections is completed, the ingress node transmits a message requesting the setup of a backup communication connection to a next-hop node on each of the main communication connections.
20. A node for use in a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of nodes,
wherein a plurality of main communication connections, each serving as a communication connection for transferring data, are established between two nodes in the connection-oriented network with one node being an ingress node and the other being an egress node, and the main communication connections do not share any of the links and nodes between the ingress node and the egress node with each other, and
wherein, upon receiving a message requesting binding of a connection identifier for a backup communication connection for protecting first one of the main communication connections, each of the nodes excluding the egress node selects another communication connection as a communication connection into which a merge is to be performed at a node en route on a data transfer route and merges the backup communication connection being established with respect to the message into the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed.
21. A node according to claim 20, wherein the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed is a second one of the main communication connections that is established so as to be node-disjoint from the first main communication between the ingress node and the egress node of the main communication connections.
22. A node according to claim 21, wherein, when the communication connection into which the merge Is to be performed is a second main communication connection established to be node-disjoint from the first main communication connection, a condition for the merge is that the second main communication connection has both resources required by the second main communication connection and resources required by the backup communication connection being established, and
wherein, when the second main communication connection does not have resources that satisfy the condition for the merge, the merge is performed after the resources are increased by an amount corresponding to the shortage in a segment downstream from the node at which the merge is to be performed, on the second main communication connection.
23. A node according to claim 20, wherein the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed is either the other backup communication connection for protecting the main communication connection or the other backup communication connection, established so as to be node-disjoint from the first main communication connection, for protecting a second one of the main communication connections between the ingress node and the egress node of the main communication connections.
24. A node according to claim 20, wherein the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed is either a second one of the main communication connections that is established so as to be node disjoint from the first main communication connection between the ingress node and the egress node of the main communication connections or the other backup communication connection for protecting the first or second main communication connection.
25. A node according to claim 20, wherein the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed is selected on a condition that a transmission route of traffic flowing from the own node to the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed does not include any of the links of the first main communication connection or any of the nodes excluding the egress node.
26. A node according to claim 20, wherein a condition for the merge is that the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed has resources required by the backup communication connection being established, and
wherein, when the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed does not have resources that satisfy the merge condition, the merge is performed after the resources are increased by an amount corresponding to the shortage in a segment, on the communication connection into which the merge is to be performed, downstream from the node at which the merge is to be performed.
27. A server for use in a connection-oriented network comprising a plurality of nodes, a plurality of links interconnecting the plurality of nodes, and at least one server capable of communicating with the plurality of nodes,
wherein a plurality of main communication connections, each serving as a communication connection for transferring data, are established between two nodes in the connection-oriented network with one node being an ingress node and the other being an egress node, so as not to share any of the links and nodes between the ingress node and the egress node, and
wherein, when a failure occurs at one of the nodes or links on the main communication connections, a backup communication connection is established for each of the main communication connections and a data transfer route is switched from the main communication connection to one of the backup communication connections,
said at least one server comprising calculation means for calculating the route between the node that functions as a starting node for the backup communication connection and the egress node such that the route does not include any of the links and nodes on the main communication connection to be protected by the backup communication connection,
wherein the backup communication connection merges into another backup communication connection established for protecting one of the main communication connections or into one of the main communication connections excluding the main communication connection to be protected by the backup communication connection at a node en route on a data transfer route.
28. A server according to claim 27, further comprising communication means for communicating with the plurality of nodes, wherein, upon calculating the route, the calculation means transmits a message requesting the setup of the backup communication connection to the starting node via the communication means, the message including information concerning the calculated route.

1. A product tracking system, comprising:
a memory that stores computer-executable components;
a processor operatively coupled to the memory that executes computer-executable components, including:
a device interface component configured to receive supply chain data from devices of a supply chain, wherein the device interface component receives the supply chain data on a cloud platform;
a correlation component configured to aggregate and correlate subsets of the supply chain data to yield correlated data; and
a tracking component configured to determine a status of a product within the supply chain based on the correlated data.
2. The product tracking system of claim 1, further comprising a client interface component configured to serve a display screen to a client device and to visualize information regarding the status of the product on the display screen.
3. The product tracking system of claim 1, wherein the correlation component determines a correlation between subsets of the supply chain data based in part on a data model that models at least a portion of the supply chain.
4. The product tracking system of claim 1, wherein the tracking component is further configured to identify a product flow inefficiency associated with a portion of the supply chain based on an analysis of the correlated data over a time range.
5. The product tracking system of claim 4, wherein the tracking component is further configured to generate a recommendation for adjusting at least one supply chain process to mitigate the product flow inefficiency.
6. The product tracking system of claim 1, wherein the tracking component is further configured to predict a level of demand for the product based on an analysis of the supply chain data.
7. The product tracking system of claim 6, wherein the tracking component is further configured to generate a recommended modification to at least one supply chain process based on the level of demand.
8. The product tracking system of claim 7, wherein the recommended modification comprises a modification predicted to adjust an inventory level for the product to a level that satisfies the level of demand.
9. The product tracking system of claim 6, wherein the tracking component is further configured to generate or alter an order for materials based on the level of demand.
10. The product tracking system of claim 3, wherein the tracking component is further configured to output an estimated time of arrival for the product to reach a specified point in the supply chain based on the status and latency information modeled by the data model.
11. A method for tracking product through a supply chain, comprising:
receiving, at a cloud platform, supply chain data from a plurality of devices within a supply chain;
aggregating and correlating subsets of the supply chain data yielding correlated data; and
identifying a status of a product within the supply chain based on the correlated data.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
delivering a display screen to a client device via the cloud platform; and
rendering information regarding the status on the display screen.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the aggregating and correlating comprises determining a correlation between subsets of the supply chain data based in part on a data model of at least a portion of the supply chain.
14. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying an inefficiency in a product flow through the supply chain based on an analysis of the correlated data over a time range.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising outputting a recommended adjustment to at least one supply chain process predicted to mitigate the inefficiency.
16. The method of claim 11, further comprising predicting a demand level for the product based on an analysis of the supply chain data.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising outputting a recommended adjustment to at least one supply chain process predicted to maintain an inventory level that satisfies the demand level.
18. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating or adjusting an order for materials based on the demand level.
19. The method of claim 13, further comprising outputting an estimated time at which the product will arrive at a specified point in the supply chain based on the status and latency information read from the data model.
20. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing system to perform operations, including:
collecting, from multiple devices within a supply chain, data relating to a product in the supply chain;
storing the data in storage associated with a cloud platform;
aggregating and correlating subsets of the data at the cloud platform to yield correlated data; and
generating first output information identifying a status of the product within the supply chain.
21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the status comprises at least one of a current location of the product within the supply chain, an estimated time of arrival of the product at a specified point within the supply chain, identification of whether the product is in production, identification of whether the product is in transit, an inventory level for the product, or a demand level for the product.
22. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising generating second output information identifying a product flow inefficiency associated with a system within the supply chain based on an analysis of the correlated data.

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 analyzing audio components of communications comprising:
receiving information corresponding to an audio component of a communication session at a recorder;
generating text from the information at a speech recognition engine executing on a computing device; and
integrating the text with additional information provided by the recorder corresponding to the communication session, the additional information being integrated in a textual format and identifying a party to the communication session with a first representation; and the additional information identifying a characteristic of the audio component associated with the information of the communication session with a second representation,
wherein the first representation comprises a first letter to indicate audio communication by a first party of the communication session, and wherein the second representation comprises a lower case representation of the letter indicates a first volume level and an upper case representation of the letter indicates a second volume level.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information comprises amplitude information corresponding to volume levels that the audio component exhibited during the communication session.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating text comprises performing speech recognition analysis on the information and generating a transcript of the audio component.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating text comprises performing phonetic analysis on the information and generating a phonetic representation of the audio component.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising indexing at least a portion of the information and the additional information to form text-searchable indexes.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indexing is selectively performed such that at least a portion of the additional information is not indexed.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least some of the additional information that is not indexed is integrated with the information as an HTML tag.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording the communication session.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein recording comprises capturing screen data associated with the communication session.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing automated evaluation of the communication session.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein performing automated evaluation comprises performing script adherence analysis.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein performing automated evaluation comprises evaluating the communication session for fraud.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the communication session is conducted using Internet Protocol packets.
14. A system for analyzing audio components of communications comprising:
an audio analyzer operative to:
receive information corresponding to an audio component of a communication session from a recorder;
generate text from the information at a speech recognition engine executing on a computing device; and
integrate the text with additional information provided by the recorder corresponding to the communication session, the additional information being integrated in a textual format,

wherein the text with the additional information forms a textual representation of the audio component; and the text with the additional information includes a first representation of a party to the communication session and a second representation of a characteristic of the audio component associated with the information of the communication session,
wherein the first representation comprises a first letter to indicate audio communication by a first party of the communication session, and wherein the second representation comprises a lower case representation of the letter indicates a first volume level and an upper case representation of the letter indicates a second volume level.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the audio analyzer comprises a speech recognition engine operative to analyze the information and to generate a transcript of the audio component.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the audio analyzer comprises a phonetic analyzer operative to analyze the information and generate a phonetic representation of the audio component.
17. The system of claim 14, further comprising an amplitude analyzer operative to provide amplitude information corresponding to volume levels that the audio component exhibited during the communication session, the additional information comprising the amplitude information.
18. The system of claim 14, wherein:
the audio analyzer is further operative to insert timing indicators in the textual representation.
19. The system of claim 14, further comprising a recorder operative to record the audio component such that the information corresponding to the audio component is accessible to the audio analyzer.
20. The system of claim 14, further comprising means for recording the audio component.