Author: claimsbot

1. A connector comprising a male component and a female receptacle, wherein the male component is to be connected into the female receptacle to establish a fluid flow path between the male component and the female receptacle,
the male component having means for making initial engagement with the receptacle and means for pulling itself fully into the receptacle by pushing against the initial engagement means, and the female receptacle comprising a body with a tubular bore open at both ends to accept the male component from either end, and a branch passage between the ends of the bore and opening into the bore,
wherein the male component has a central bore, a closed end and a lateral opening or openings at one point around its circumference, the lateral openings being adapted to communicate with the branch passage when the male and female components are fully engaged with one another to establish a flow path between said central bore of the male component, through one or more of the said lateral openings and into said branch passage.
2. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the male component is at the end of a flexible hose and the female receptacle is part of a manifold assembly for a subsea pipeline.
3. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the male component has means by which a remotely operated subsea vehicle can grip and manipulate the male component.
4. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the female receptacle has an outwardly flared end to assist in guiding the male component into the receptacle.
5. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the male component has a rounded end to assist in guiding the male component into the receptacle.
6. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein sealing means are provided between the male and female components in the frilly engaged position.
7. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for making initial engagement with the receptacle comprises bayonet slots on the female receptacle, and radial projections on the male component.
8. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for making initial engagement with the receptacle comprises expanding collets on the male component which expand to lock behind ridges on the female receptacle.
9. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for pulling the male component fully into the receptacle comprise a rack and pinion arrangement working between a part of the male component which is initially engaged with the female receptacle, and a part of the male component which incorporates a fluid flow passage and is to be driven fully into the receptacle.
10. A connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for pulling the male component frilly into the receptacle comprises hydraulic rams working between a part of the male component which is initially engaged with the female receptacle, and a part of the male component which incorporates a fluid flow passage and is to be driven fully into the receptacle.

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 processing device, having a face side, said device comprising a display and a keyboard, wherein said keyboard peripherally extends around at least a portion of said display.
2. The device according to claim 1, wherein said keyboard is an alphanumerical keyboard, said display has a perimeter, and said keyboard extends around at least a portion of said perimeter.
3. The device according to claim 2, wherein said display has a rectangular shape with two longitudinal and two transversal sides; said alphanumerical keyboard extends at least around a portion of one said longitudinal side and a portion of two said transversal sides; said device has a speaker located on one said transversal side and a microphone located on the other said transversal side.
4. The device according to claim 2, wherein said alphanumerical keyboard has a predetermined keyboard set of keys, and said device further comprising a keyboard locator unit having a locator set of keys corresponding to said predetermined keyboard set of keys, the keys of said locator set of keys are disposed in a manner to indicate the locations of the keys of said predetermined keyboard set of keys.
5. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard has keys comprising only one alphabetical character per key.
6. The device according to claim 2, further comprising a microphone located on one end of the face side of said device, a speaker located on the other end of the face side, wherein said display extends from the vicinity of said microphone to the vicinity of said speaker, and wherein the alphanumerical keyboard extends around at least a portion of at least three sides of said display.
7. The device according to claim 2, wherein said display has a rectangular shape, and said keyboard is a screen image of an alphanumerical keyboard appearing on said display.
8. The device according to claim 4, wherein said alphanumerical keyboard is a visual representation of said predetermined set of keys located within a predetermined space allocated on said display, said keyboard predetermined set of keys comprises keys invisible to the user, said keyboard locator unit is situated on the face side of said device, said keyboard locator unit is arranged as a representation of said alphanumerical keyboard in order to indicate to the user the exact location of the invisible keys of said keyboard predetermined set of keys on and around said display.
9. The device according to claim 4, further comprising a hardware frame, wherein said keyboard locator unit is situated on and around said hardware frame, andor appears as an image on and around said display.
10. The device according to claim 8, wherein said keyboard locator unit has a predeterminedly thin and elongated shape and is substantially an identical representation of said alphanumerical keyboard.
11. The device according to claim 8, wherein said keyboard locator is situated contiguously to, or near to, or included at least in part of, the space allocated to the alphanumerical keyboard on the display.
12. The device according to claim 8, wherein the keyboard locator unit extends around at least a portion of the perimeter of said display.
13. The device according to claim 2, wherein the following options are provided:
a) said alphanumerical keyboard is represented by an image keyboard appearing on the display, said image keyboard having image keys; or
b) said device further comprises a hardware frame, and said alphanumerical keyboard is made as a hardware keyboard extending on the frame, said hardware keyboard having hardware keys; or
c) said alphanumerical keyboard is represented by a combination of the image keys and the hardware keys.
14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard of the option (a) is at least a digital touch screen data entry keyboard, andor the alphanumerical keyboard of the option (b) is at least a mechanical \u201cpush down\u201d data entry keyboard, andor the alphanumerical keyboard of the option (c) is a combination of the digital touch screen data entry keyboard or a combination of the mechanical \u201cpush down\u201d data entry keyboard.
15. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard comprises keys having at least one of the following characters: numerical characters, command characters, and symbol characters.
16. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard comprises keys having only one alphabetical character per key, and wherein the keys are unambiguous keys, which enter unambiguous characters.
17. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard comprises keys having at least two alphabetical characters per key, and wherein the keys are ambiguous keys, which enter ambiguous characters.
18. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard comprises at least four ambiguous keys.
19. The device according to claim 18, further comprising
a hardware frame and an additional alphanumerical keyboard andor keyboard locator unit associated with said alphanumerical keyboard, said additional alphanumerical keyboard andor said keyboard locator unit comprising a predetermined number of unambiguous keys having one alphabetical character per key, and
wherein the correction, andor the addition of characters entered with said at least four ambiguous keys is done through said additional alphanumerical keyboard andor keyboard locator unit, and wherein said additional keyboard andor keyboard locator unit either appears, at the discretion of the user, as an image on andor around the display, andor is located on andor around said hardware frame.
20. The device according to claim 18, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is located on andor along at least portions of the four corners of said device or of said display, andor wherein at least two of said ambiguous keys are located on each side of the display.
21. The device according to claim 2, further comprising a predetermined number of software applications; said alphanumerical keyboard comprises a number of keys associated with at least one application of said predetermined number of software applications.
22. The device according to claim 21, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is represented as an image situated on and around the display, and wherein said image, at the discretion of the user, either: a) appears occasionally, or: b) remains permanently on the display, or: c) is permanently associated with said number of keys associated with said at least one application.
23. The device according to claim 21, wherein a predetermined application of said predetermined number of software applications is represented as a rectangular window appearing on the display, and wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is represented in the form of an image appearing on said display, wherein said image extends along andor around at least a portion of the sides of said rectangular window.
24. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is divided into a plurality of separate portions extending around the display.
25. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is an image keyboard partly visible on said display, and wherein the visible part of the image keyboard extends along and around at least a portion of at least one side of the display, in a predeterminedly thin and elongated shape.
26. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is in the form of a non-invasive and predeterminedly thin shape image, and wherein the alphanumerical keyboard extends along and around at least a portion of at least one side of the display.
27. The device according to claim 2, wherein the alphanumerical keyboard is an unambiguous keyboard having only one alphabetical character per key, and wherein said keys are arranged one after the other in at least one of the following orders: a) a regular alphabetical order; b) a continuous Qwerty order; c) at least one of the three alphabetical rows of a conventional unambiguous Qwerty keyboard is assigned to at least one specific side of the device.
28. A software application for a mobile telecommunication device including a display having a perimeter, said software application displays advertisement images andor advertisement messages on said display in a predeterminedly elongated shape, said software application extending along and around at least a portion of said perimeter.

1. A sensor for detecting a position of an encoder element, which outputs a physical variable which is dependent on position, said sensor comprising a transducer for converting the physical variable into an electrical encoder signal, a circuit on a wiring carrier for receiving the encoder signal from the transducer and outputting a measurement signal corresponding to the encoder signal, and a protective compound, which at least partially envelops the transducer and the wiring carrier and thus holds the transducer on the wiring carrier.
2. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protective compound has a coefficient of expansion which is within the range of a coefficient of expansion of the transducer.
3. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protective compound comprises a thermosetting plastic material.
4. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the circuit on the wiring carrier comprises a part which is free of the protective compound.
5. The sensor as claimed in claim 4, wherein the circuit in the part which is free from the protective compound is designed to output the measurement signal.
6. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transducer is an electrical transformer, in particular a linear inductive position sensor (LIPS), which is designed to transmit at least one reference signal depending on a position of the encoder element as encoder signal.
7. The sensor as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transformer has two transformer coils, which are wound onto a magnetic core by a coil former, the coefficient of expansion of said magnetic core being in the region of a coefficient of expansion of the coil former.
8. A method for producing a sensor for detecting a position of an encoder element, which outputs a physical variable which is dependent on position, said sensor comprising a transducer for converting the physical variable into an electrical encoder signal, a circuit on a wiring carrier for receiving the encoder signal from the transducer and outputting a measurement signal corresponding to the encoder signal, and a protective compound, which at least partially envelops the transducer and the wiring carrier and thus holds the transducer on the wiring carrier as claimed in, the method comprising:
making contact between the transducer and the circuit on the wiring carrier, and
enveloping the transducer and the wiring carrier at least partially with the protective compound so that the protective compound holds the transducer on the wiring carrier.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein a surface of the wiring carrier andor of the transducer which is to be enveloped by the protective compound is activated prior to the transducer and the wiring carrier being enveloped by the protective compound.
10. A method for producing an electrical transformer, comprising:
arranging electrical connections and a magnetic core for the transformer,
forming a coil former around the magnetic core in such a way that the electrical connections are held by the coil former, and
winding at least one coil wire onto the coil former.
11. The sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein the protective compound comprises a thermosetting plastic material.
12. The sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transducer is an electrical transformer, in particular a linear inductive position sensor (LIPS), which is designed to transmit at least one reference signal depending on a position of the encoder element as encoder signal.
13. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the electrical transformer is a linear inductive position sensor (LIPS).

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 prosthetic hip level socket system for a user’s lower torso comprising:
a socket fittable to said user’s lower torso below the right iliac crest and the left iliac crest, having a mounting point for an attachment, a rigid anterior frame, and a rigid posterior frame;
a semi rigid first strap attached to said socket anterior frame and said socket posterior frame wherein said first strap is adapted to fit over the right iliac crest of said user’s lower torso; and
a semi rigid second strap attached to said socket anterior frame and said socket posterior frame wherein said second strap is adapted to fit over the left iliac crest of said user’s lower torso.
2. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 1 wherein said first strap has an adjustable length.
3. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 2 wherein said second strap has an adjustable length.
4. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 3 wherein said socket is made from fiberglass.
5. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 3 wherein said socket is made from carbon fiber.
6. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 1 wherein said attachment is a prosthetic hip joint.
7. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 6 wherein said attachment is a removably attached prosthetic hip joint.
8. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 1 wherein said socket is contoured around the ischialramus complex, the anus area, and the pubisgenetalia area.
9. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 1 wherein said first strap includes convex padding.
10. The prosthetic hip level socket system of claim 9 wherein said second strap includes convex padding.