Author: claimsbot

1. An illumination device, comprising:
a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) chains configured to produce illumination for the illumination device at a chromaticity consistent with a chromaticity setting and at a brightness consistent with a brightness setting;
a driver circuit coupled for generating and supplying a respective drive current to each of the plurality of LED chains for producing the illumination;
a plurality of power converters coupled for supplying power to the driver circuit, wherein the power converters each comprise a maximum safe current level or a maximum safe power level, which varies with temperature;
a temperature sensor coupled for measuring a present temperature associated with the power converters; and
a control circuit configured for determining a target lumens value that is safely producible by all LED chains at the present temperature to achieve the chromaticity setting without exceeding the maximum safe current level or the maximum safe power level associated with the power converters at the present temperature.
2. The illumination device as recited in claim 1, further comprising an interface coupled for receiving the chromaticity setting and the brightness setting.
3. The illumination device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a storage medium coupled for storing the chromaticity setting and the brightness setting.
4. The illumination device as recited in claim 1, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine the target lumens value by:
determining a maximum lumens value that is safely producible by all LED chains at a predetermined safe temperature to achieve the chromaticity setting without exceeding the maximum safe current level or the maximum safe power level of the power converters at the predetermined safe temperature;
applying the brightness setting to the maximum lumens value to generate a temporary target lumens value;
determining, for each LED chain, an actual lumens needed from the LED chain to achieve the temporary target lumens value at the present temperature;
determining, for each LED chain, a drive current needed to produce the actual lumens at the present temperature;
estimating a total power drawn by all LED chains combined at the present temperature;
generating a scale factor; and
calculating the target lumens value by applying the scale factor and the brightness setting to the maximum lumens value.
5. The illumination device as recited in claim 4, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine the actual lumens needed from each LED chain to achieve the temporary target lumens value at the present temperature by:
periodically turning the plurality of LED chains off for short durations of time;
measuring a forward voltage presently developed across each LED chain by applying a non-operative drive current to each LED chain, one chain at a time, during the short durations of time the plurality of LED chains are periodically turned off;
determining chromaticity values that are expected for each LED chain using the forward voltage measured across each LED chain, the respective drive current supplied to each LED chain, a table of stored calibration values correlating forward voltage and drive current to chromaticity at a plurality of different temperatures, and one or more interpolation techniques; and
calculating the actual lumens needed from each LED chain to achieve the temporary target lumens value using the expected chromaticity values and the chromaticity setting.
6. The illumination device as recited in claim 5, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine, for each LED chain, the drive current needed to produce the actual lumens by using the forward voltage measured for the LED chain at the present temperature, the actual lumens determined for the LED chain, a table of stored calibration values correlating forward voltage and drive current to lumens at a plurality of different temperatures, and one or more interpolation techniques.
7. The illumination device as recited in claim 4, wherein the control circuit is configured to estimate the total power drawn by all LED chains combined at the present temperature by:
estimating, for each LED chain, a power drawn by the LED chain by multiplying the drive current needed from the LED chain to produce the actual lumens with a forward voltage value estimated for that drive current at the present temperature; and
summing the estimated power drawn by all LED chains.
8. The illumination device as recited in claim 4, wherein the control circuit is configured to generate the scale factor by:
determining the maximum safe current level and the maximum safe power level of power converters at the present temperature;
calculating a ratio of the maximum safe power level determined at the present temperature over the total power estimated at the present temperature;
calculating, for each LED chain, a ratio of the maximum safe current level determined at the present temperature over the drive current determined for the LED chain at the present temperature; and
using a smallest of the calculated ratios to generate the scale factor.
9. The illumination device as recited in claim 8, further comprising a storage medium coupled for storing a relationship of saturation current vs. temperature for each of the power converters, and wherein the control circuit is configured to determine the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the present temperature by linearly interpolating between the stored relationships.
10. The illumination device as recited in claim 4, wherein the control circuit is configured for adjusting the respective drive currents supplied to the plurality of LED chains, so as to achieve the target lumens value.
11. The illumination device as recited in claim 10, wherein the control circuit is configured for periodically readjusting the respective drive currents supplied to the plurality of LED chains to account for changes in the present temperature by:
measuring a new present temperature;
determining, for each LED chain, an actual lumens needed from the LED chain to achieve the chromaticity setting and the target lumens value at the new present temperature;
determining, for each LED chain, a drive current needed to produce the actual lumens at the new present temperature;
applying the determined drive currents to the LED chains;
determining a total power drawn by all LED chains combined at the new present temperature;
updating the scale factor to account for changes in the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the new present temperature;
recalculating the target lumens value using the updated scale factor; and
adjusting the respective drive currents supplied to the plurality of LED chains, so as to achieve the recalculated target lumens value.
12. The illumination device as recited in claim 11, wherein the control circuit is configured for updating the scale factor by:
determining the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the new present temperature;
calculating a ratio of the maximum safe power level at the new present temperature over the total power determined at the new present temperature;
calculating, for each LED chain, a ratio of the maximum safe current level at the new present temperature over the drive current determined for the LED chain;
subtracting 1 from a smallest of the calculated ratios to generate a subtraction result; and
adding the subtraction result to the scale factor to update the scale factor.
13. The illumination device as recited in claim 11, wherein the control circuit is configured for updating the scale factor by:
determining the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the new present temperature;
calculating a ratio of the maximum safe power level at the new present temperature over the total power determined at the new present temperature;
calculating, for each LED chain, a ratio of the maximum safe current level at the new present temperature over the drive current determined for the LED chain;
subtracting 1 from a smallest of the calculated ratios to generate a subtraction result;
multiplying the subtraction result with a coefficient value to generate a multiplication result; and
adding the multiplication result to the scale factor to update the scale factor.
14. A method for adjusting a target lumens value associated with an illumination device comprising a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) chains and a plurality of power converters configured for powering the LED chains, the method comprising:
detecting a brightness setting and a chromaticity setting set for the illumination device;
measuring a present temperature associated with the power converters of the illumination device;
determining a target lumens value that is safely producible by all LED chains at the present temperature to achieve the chromaticity setting without exceeding a maximum safe current level or a maximum safe power level determined for the power converters at the present temperature; and
adjusting the target lumens value upon detecting a change in the brightness setting, a change in the chromaticity setting or a change in the present temperature.
15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein said determining a target lumens value comprises:
determining a maximum lumens value that is safely producible by all LED chains at a predetermined safe temperature to achieve the chromaticity setting without exceeding the maximum safe current level or the maximum safe power level of the power converters at the predetermined safe temperature;
applying the brightness setting to the maximum lumens value to generate a temporary target lumens value;
determining, for each LED chain, an actual lumens needed from the LED chain to achieve the temporary target lumens value at the present temperature;
determining, for each LED chain, a drive current needed to produce the actual lumens at the present temperature;
estimating a total power drawn by all LED chains combined at the present temperature;
generating a scale factor; and
calculating the target lumens value by applying the scale factor and the brightness setting to the maximum lumens value.
16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein said determining the actual lumens needed from each LED chain to achieve the temporary target lumens value at the present temperature comprises:
periodically turning the plurality of LED chains off for short durations of time;
measuring a forward voltage presently developed across each LED chain by applying a non-operative drive current to each LED chain, one chain at a time, during the short durations of time the plurality of LED chains are periodically turned off;
determining chromaticity values that are expected for each LED chain using the forward voltage measured across each LED chain, the drive current supplied to each LED chain, a table of stored calibration values correlating forward voltage and drive current to chromaticity at a plurality of different temperatures, and one or more interpolation techniques; and
calculating the actual lumens needed from each LED chain to achieve the temporary target lumens value using the expected chromaticity values and the chromaticity setting.
17. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein said determining, for each LED chain, the drive current needed to produce the actual lumens comprises using the forward voltage measured for the LED chain at the present temperature, the actual lumens determined for the LED chain, a table of stored calibration values correlating forward voltage and drive current to lumens at a plurality of different temperatures, and one or more interpolation techniques.
18. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein said estimating the total power drawn by all LED chains combined at the predetermined safe temperature comprises:
estimating, for each LED chain, a power drawn by the LED chain by multiplying the drive current needed from the LED chain to produce the actual lumens with a forward voltage value estimated for that drive current at the present temperature; and
summing the estimated power drawn by all LED chains.
19. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein said generating a scale factor comprises:
determining the maximum safe current level and the maximum safe power level of power converters at the present temperature;
calculating a ratio of the maximum safe power level at the present temperature over the total power estimated for all LED chains at the present temperature;
calculating, for each LED chain, a ratio of the maximum safe current level at the present temperature over the drive current determined for the LED chain at the present temperature; and
using a smallest of the calculated ratios to generate the scale factor.
20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein said determining the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the present temperature comprises linearly interpolating between saturation current versus temperature relationships or values stored within the illumination device for each of the power converters.
21. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising adjusting the drive currents supplied to the plurality of LED chains, so as to achieve the target lumens value.
22. The method as recited in claim 21, further comprising periodically readjusting the drive currents supplied to the plurality of LED chains to account for changes in the present temperature by:
measuring a new present temperature;
determining, for each LED chain, an actual lumens needed from the LED chain to achieve the chromaticity setting and the target lumens value at the new present temperature;
determining, for each LED chain, a drive current needed to produce the actual lumens at the new present temperature;
applying the determined drive currents to the LED chains;
determining a total power drawn by all LED chains combined at the new present temperature;
updating the scale factor to account for changes in the maximum safe power level andor the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the new present temperature;
recalculating the target lumens value using the updated scale factor; and
adjusting the drive currents supplied to the plurality of LED chains, so as to achieve the recalculated target lumens value.
23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said updating the scale factor comprises:
determining the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the new present temperature;
calculating a ratio of the maximum safe power level determined at the new present temperature over the total power determined at the new present temperature;
calculating, for each LED chain, a ratio of the maximum safe current level determined at the new present temperature over the drive current determined for the LED chain at the new present temperature;
subtracting 1 from a smallest of the calculated ratios to generate a subtraction result; and
adding the subtraction result to the scale factor to update the scale factor.
24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein said updating the scale factor comprises:
determining the maximum safe power level and the maximum safe current level of the power converters at the new present temperature;
calculating a ratio of the maximum safe power level determined at the new present temperature over the total power determined at the new present temperature;
calculating, for each LED chain, a ratio of the maximum safe current level determined at the new present temperature over the drive current determined for the LED chain at the new present temperature;
subtracting 1 from a smallest of the calculated ratios to generate a subtraction result;
multiplying the subtraction result with a coefficient value to generate a multiplication result; and
adding the multiplication result to the scale factor to update the scale factor.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1-28. (canceled)
29. A protein composition having a color of 75 to 52 L*, 25 to 15 a*, and 23 to 16 b* obtained from meat trimmings containing fat and protein, wherein the meat trimmings are obtained from beef and wherein the meat trimmings have an average fat content between about 50% and 80% by weight and a lean content between about 20% and 50% by weight, said protein composition obtained by a process comprising the steps of:
a) comminuting the meat trimmings in water,
b) adding a food grade acid to the comminuted meat trimmings to effect a pH in the range of 3.6 to 4.4 thereby to solubilize the protein,
c) after addition of the food grade acid in step b), separating solid fat from solubilized protein, and
d) adding a food grade alkali to the solubilized protein to increase the pH in the solubilized protein and to precipitate the solubilized protein to produce a protein composition with a color of 75 to 52 L*, 25 to 15 a*, and 23 to 16 b*, wherein the protein composition has 14% or greater by weight protein and less than 30% by weight fat.
30. The protein composition of claim 29 wherein said pH in step b is in the range of 3.6 to 3.8.
31. The protein composition of claim 29 wherein a food grade acid is added in step a.
32. The protein composition of claim 30 wherein a food grade acid is added in step a.
33. The protein composition of claim 29 wherein said food grade acid is taken from the group consisting of citric acid and hydrochloric acid.
34. The protein composition of claim 30 wherein said food grade acid is taken from the group consisting of citric acid and hydrochloric acid.
35. The protein composition of claim 33 wherein said food grade acid is citric acid and said food grade alkali is sodium bicarbonate.
36. The protein composition of claim 34 wherein said food grade acid is citric acid and said food grade alkali is sodium bicarbonate.
37. The protein composition of claim 29 wherein the process additionally comprises filtering the precipitated protein composition thereby to produce a filtrate thereof and a protein composition as a retentate thereof, ultra-filtrating the filtrate to obtain a myoglobin rich solution, and mixing the protein composition and the myoglobin rich solution.
38. The protein composition of claim 30 wherein the process additionally comprises filtering the precipitated protein composition thereby to produce a filtrate thereof and a protein composition as a retentate thereof, ultra-filtrating the filtrate to obtain a myoglobin rich solution, and mixing the protein composition and the myoglobin rich solution.
39. The protein composition of claim 29 wherein water is removed from said protein in step c) prior to adding said food-grade alkali.
40. The protein composition of claim 37 wherein said food-grade acid is a food-grade citric acid and food-grade alkali is a food grade sodium bicarbonate.
41. The protein composition of claim 38 wherein said food-grade acid is a food-grade citric acid and food-grade alkali is a food grade sodium bicarbonate.
42. The protein composition of claim 37 wherein said food-grade acid is a food-grade citric acid.
43. The protein composition of claim 38 wherein said food-grade acid is a food-grade citric acid.
44. A protein composition having a color of 75 to 52 L*, 25 to 15 a*, and 23 to 16 b* and containing water soluble and non-water soluble proteins, said protein composition is recovered from meat trimmings, wherein the meat trimmings are beef trimmings and wherein the meat trimmings have an average fat content between about 50% and 80% by weight and a lean content between about 20% and 50% by weight, said protein composition recovered from a process comprising the steps of:
a) comminuting the meat trimmings in water,
b) adding a food grade acid to the comminuted meat trimmings to effect a pH in the range of 3.6 to 4.4 thereby to solubilize the protein,
c) after addition of the food grade acid in step b), separating solid fat from the solubilized protein; and
d) adding a food grade alkali to the solubilized protein to precipitate the solubilized protein to produce the protein composition having a color of 75 to 52 L*, 25 to 15 a*, and 23 to 16 b*, wherein the protein composition has 14% or greater by weight protein.
45. The protein composition of claim 44 wherein said pH in step b is in the range of 3.6 to 3.8.
46. The protein composition of claim 44 wherein a food grade acid is added in step a.
47. The protein composition of claim 45 wherein a food grade acid is added in step a.
48. The protein composition of claim 44 wherein said food grade acid is taken from the group of citric acid and hydrochloric acid.
49. The protein composition of claim 45 wherein said food grade acid is taken from the group of citric acid and hydrochloric acid.
50. The protein composition of claim 48 wherein said food grade acid is citric acid and said food grade alkali is sodium bicarbonate.
51. The protein composition of claim 49 wherein said food grade acid is citric acid and said food grade alkali is sodium bicarbonate.
52. The protein composition of claim 44 wherein said food-grade acid is a food-grade citric acid.
53. The protein composition of claim 45 wherein said food-grade acid is a food-grade citric acid.
54. The protein composition of claim 29 wherein the protein composition has less than 10% by weight fat.

1-24. (canceled)
25. A method of placing data in a .ZIP file format data container on a computer, said method including:
receiving a data file at an application on a computer;
compressing said data file to form a compressed data file using said application before encrypting said data file;
encrypting said compressed data file to form an encrypted data file, wherein said encrypting uses symmetric encryption using a symmetric key having a length of at least 128 bits;
placing said encrypted data file in a data container using said application on said computer,
wherein said data container is constructed in accordance with the .ZIP file format,
wherein said data container includes an electronic indication that said encrypted data file is encrypted,
wherein said data container includes a second electronic indication that said encrypted data file was encrypted with an encryption method using at least 128 bits,
wherein said data container includes an electronic extra field, wherein said extra field includes an electronic indication of the bit length of the key employed in encrypting said encrypted data file.
26. The method of claim 1 wherein said symmetric key has a length of at least 192 bits.
27. The method of claim 1 wherein said symmetric key has a length of at least 256 bits.
28. The method of claim 1 wherein said encrypting employs an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-type encryption algorithm.
29. The method of claim 1 wherein said encrypting employs a Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES)-type encryption algorithm.
30. The method of claim 1 wherein said compressing employs a Lempel-Ziv (LZ)-type data compression algorithm.
31. The method of claim 1 wherein said compressing employs a Deflate-type data compression algorithm.
32. The method of claim 1 wherein said compressing employs a Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT)-type data compression algorithm.
33. A system for placing data in a .ZIP file format data container on a computer, said system including:
a computer including an electronic data storage, said computer receiving a data file at an application, said application compressing said data file to form a compressed data file and then encrypting said compressed data file to form an encrypted data file,
wherein said encrypting uses symmetric encryption using a symmetric key having a length of at least 128 bits,
wherein said application places said encrypted data file in a data container in said electronic data storage of said computer,
wherein said data container is constructed in accordance with the .ZIP file format,
wherein said data container includes an electronic indication that said encrypted data file is encrypted,
wherein said data container includes a second electronic indication that said encrypted data file was encrypted with an encryption method using at least 128 bits,
wherein said data container includes an electronic extra field, wherein said extra field includes an electronic indication of the bit length of the key employed in encrypting said encrypted data file.
34. The system of claim 33 wherein said symmetric key has a length of at least 192 bits.
35. The system of claim 33 wherein said symmetric key has a length of at least 256 bits.
36. The system of claim 33 wherein said encrypting employs an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-type encryption algorithm.
37. The system of claim 33 wherein said encrypting employs a Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES)-type encryption algorithm.
38. The system of claim 33 wherein said compressing employs a Lempel-Ziv (LZ)-type data compression algorithm.
39. The system of claim 33 wherein said compressing employs a Deflate-type data compression algorithm.
40. The system of claim 33 wherein said compressing employs a Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT)-type data compression algorithm.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A pressure-elevating type fuel injecting system in which high pressure fuel from a pressure accumulating chamber is further pressurized by a pressure-elevating mechanism and is injected into combustion chambers by injectors, the pressure-elevating type fuel injecting system comprising:
a crank angle sensor producing crank pulse signals in accordance with operating states of an engine;
a pulse interval calculating unit calculating pulse intervals between respective crank pulse signals; and
a determination unit determining that the pressure elevating mechanism is malfunctioning when variations of the pulse intervals exceed a determination threshold.
2. The fuel injecting system of claim 1, further comprising a unit suspending the operation of the pressure elevating mechanism when the determination unit determines the malfunction of the pressure-elevating mechanism.
3. The fuel injecting system of claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the pressure-elevating mechanism to be malfunctioning when crank pulse intervals depending upon engine states remain abnormal longer than a preset time period.
4. A pressure-elevating type fuel injecting system in which high pressure fuel from a pressure accumulating chamber is further pressurized by a pressure-elevating mechanism and is injected into combustion chambers by injectors, the pressure-elevating type fuel injecting system comprising:
a fuel supply pump supplying fuel to the pressure accumulating chamber;
a pressure regulating unit regulating fuel pressure in the pressure accumulating chamber by opening or closing-a metering valve disposed in a fuel return path of the fuel supply pump;
a crank angle sensor producing crank pulse signals in accordance with operating states of an engine;
a pulse interval calculating unit calculating pulse intervals between adjacent crank pulse signals;
an opening-closing signal deviation calculating unit calculating deviations between actual opening-closing signals of the metering valve and a reference opening-closing signal corresponding to a target fuel pressure in the pressure accumulating chamber; and
a determination unit determining that the pressure elevating mechanism is malfunctioning when variations of the pulse intervals exceed a determination threshold, and the calculated deviation of the opening-closing signal exceeds an allowable deviation range.
5. The fuel injecting system of claim 4, further comprising a unit suspending the operation of the pressure elevating mechanism when the determination unit determines the malfunction of the pressure elevating mechanism.
6. The fuel injecting system of claim 4, further comprising a fuel injecting unit injecting fuel to the combustion chamber by regulating pressure of fuel in the pressure accumulating chamber to an allowable maximum pressure through the operation of the metering valve when the determination unit determines the pressure-elevating mechanism to be malfunctioning.
7. The fuel injecting system of claim 4, further comprising a fuel injecting unit injecting fuel to the combustion chamber by regulating pressure of fuel in the pressure accumulating chamber to an allowable maximum pressure through the operation of the metering valve and by regulating an amount of injected fuel when the determination unit determines the pressure-elevating mechanism to be malfunctioning.
8. The fuel injecting system of claim 4, wherein the allowable deviation range is increased in accordance with an increase of the target fuel pressure in the pressure accumulating chamber.
9. A troubleshooting method for a pressure-elevating type fuel injecting system in which high pressure fuel from a pressure accumulating chamber is further pressurized by a pressure-elevating mechanism and is injected into combustion chambers by injectors, the method comprising:
calculating pulse intervals between respective crank pulse signals;
calculating an average of pulse intervals of a preset number of pulses;
calculating variations of the average of pulse intervals;
determining whether or not the variations are above a reference value;
determining whether or not the variations remain above the reference value longer than a preset time period; and
determining that the pressure elevating mechanism is malfunctioning when the variations are determined to be above the reference value for the preset time period.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
detecting a reference opening-closing signal corresponding to a target fuel pressure in the pressure accumulating chamber, and an actual opening-closing signal for the metering valve when the pressure elevating mechanism is determined to be malfunctioning;
determining whether or not the actual opening-closing signal is within the allowable range; and
determining that the pressure elevating mechanism is malfunctioning when the actual opening-closing signal is out of the allowable range.
11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
detecting an engine speed when the pressure elevating mechanism is determined to be malfunctioning;
regulating the fuel pressure in the pressure accumulating chamber to a preset maximum allowable pressure which depends upon the engine speed; and
regulating a fuel injection amount in accordance with the engine speed.