Author: claimsbot

1. A system for recovering hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon containing material, the system comprising:
a heated enclosure having an interior chamber;
an input conveyor for inputting the material to the heated enclosure, the heated enclosure housing a flow line therein with a temperature gradient along the flow line of at least 150 F.\xb0, thereby producing hydrocarbon vapors and stripped solids as the material is moved along the flow line;
a heated rotary drum in fluid communication with the flow line for receiving the material from the flow line, the rotary drum having an interior temperature of from 760\xb0 F. to 840\xb0 F. for generating further hydrocarbon vapors and stripped solids;
a condenser in fluid communication with both the flow line and the rotary drum for receiving the vapors from the flow line and the rotary drum and outputting liquids including hydrocarbons;
a discharge conveyor for discharging the stripped solids from the rotary drum;
one or more input control valves for sealing vacuum downstream from the one or more input conveyors, each input control valve having one or more axially spaced closure gates for redundant sealing downstream from the input conveyor;
one or more discharge control valves for sealing vacuum upstream from the one or more discharge conveyors, each discharge control valve having two or more axially spaced closure gates for the redundant sealing upstream from the discharge conveyor; and
a vacuum pump for maintaining a selected vacuum of less than 5 inches of water between the one or more input valves and the one or more discharge valves, such that hydrocarbon vapors are drawn from the flow line and the rotary drum into the condenser.
2. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein a drum sensor senses a temperature within the rotating drum; and
material movement through the enclosure is controlled as a function of the measured drum temperature.
3. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:
a substantially vertical input conveyor in fluid communication with the one or more input control valves for providing a plug of tar sands for minimizing vacuum loss; and
a substantially vertical waste conveyor in fluid communication with the one or more discharge control valves for providing a plug of stripped solids for minimizing vacuum loss.
4. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein each of the input conveyor, the discharge conveyor, and one or more heated conveyors within the flow line, includes a rotary auger.
5. The system as defined in claim 4, wherein each rotary auger is rotated by a drive motor and gearbox, a seal engaging a rotary shaft connected to each auger for sealing vacuum, and a sealed enclosure downstream from the seal for containing gases which pass by the seal.
6. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the flow line extends in one axial direction and in a substantially opposing axial direction within the heated chamber.
7. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:
a nitrogen supply system to supply nitrogen to stripped sands discharged from the discharge conveyor.
8. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:
a condensing column upstream of the condenser for separating liquids and gases, hydrocarbon vapors being input into a lower portion of the condensing column.
9. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:
a steam line for inputting steam at a temperature of greater than 800\xb0 F. into the rotary drum.
10. A system for recovering hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon containing material, the system comprising:
a heated enclosure having an interior chamber and a plurality of internal baffles within the heated chamber;
an input conveyor for inputting material to the heated enclosure;
a flow line within the heated enclosure in fluid communication with the input conveyor for receiving material and positioned with respect to the plurality of baffles to provide a temperature gradient along the flow line of 150\xb0 F., thereby producing hydrocarbon vapors and stripped solids;
a conveyor within the flow line mechanically moving the material along the flow line;
a heated rotary drum in fluid communication with the flow line for receiving the material from the flow line, the drum having an interior temperature of from 760\xb0 F. to 840\xb0 F. for generating hydrocarbon vapors and stripped solids;
a steam hue for inputting steam at a temperature of greater that 800\xb0 F. into the rotary drum;
a condenser in fluid communication with both the flow line and the rotary drum for receiving the vapors from the flow line and the rotary drum and outputting liquids including hydrocarbons and gas including hydrocarbons; and
a discharge conveyor for discharging the stripped solids from the rotary drum.
11. The system as defined in claim 10, further comprising:
an input control valve positioned along the input conveyor for sealing vacuum downstream from the input conveyor, the input control valve having two or more axially spaced closure gates; and
a discharge control valve positioned along the discharge conveyor for sealing vacuum upstream from the discharge conveyor, the discharge control valve having two or more axially spaced closure gates.
12. The system as defined in claim 10, further comprising:
a substantially vertical input conveyor in fluid communication with one or more input control valves for providing a plug of tar sands for minimizing vacuum loss; and
a substantially vertical waste conveyor in fluid communication with one or more discharge control valves for providing a plug of stripped solids for minimizing vacuum loss.
13. The system as defined in claim 10, further comprising:
a flow meter for measuring a flow rate of hydrocarbon vapors to the condenser.
14. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the flow line extends in one axial direction and in a substantially opposing axial direction within the heated chamber.
15. A system for recovering hydrocarbons from hydrocarbon containing material, the system comprising:
a heated enclosure having an interior chamber;
an input conveyor for inputting material, to the heated enclosure;
a flow line within the heated enclosure in fluid communication with the input conveyor for receiving material to provide a temperature gradient along the flow line of 150\xb0 F., thereby producing hydrocarbon vapors and stripped solids;
a heated rotary drum in fluid communication with the flow line for receiving the material from the flow line, the rotary drum having an interior temperature of from 760\xb0 F. to 840\xb0 F. for generating hydrocarbon vapors and stripped solids;
a condenser in fluid communication with both the flow line and the rotary drum for receiving the vapors and outputting liquids including hydrocarbons and gas including hydrocarbons;
a discharge conveyor for discharging the stripped solids;
an input control valve positioned along the input conveyor for scaling vacuum downstream from the input conveyor;
a discharge control valve positioned along the discharge conveyor for sealing vacuum upstream from the discharge conveyor;
a vacuum pump for maintaining a selected vacuum between the input valve and the discharge valves, such that hydrocarbon vapors are drawn from the flow line and the rotary drum into the condenser;
a flow meter for measuring a flow rate of hydrocarbon vapors to the condenser;
each of the input conveyor, the discharge conveyor, and one or more heated conveyors within the flow line, includes a rotary auger;
a flow rate sensor for sensing the speed of each rotary auger and outputting a flow rate signal; and
a processor for controlling a flow rate of material through the system in response to the flow meter and the flow rate signal.
16. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein a portion of one of the gas including hydrocarbons and the liquids including hydrocarbons are input to a burner within the heated closure.
17. The system as defined in claim 15, wherein the flow line extends in one axial direction and in a substantially opposing axial direction within the heated chamber.
18. The system as defined in claim 15, further comprising:
a condensing column upstream of the condenser for separating liquids and gases, hydrocarbon vapors being input into a lower portion of the condensing column.

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 printer network board for generating print data in accordance with information resources received from outside, and sending said print data to a printer, characterized in that print related information necessary for generating said print data is appropriately acquired from a prescribed location on the network at a prescribed time;
wherein said network board is contained in and dedicated to said printer for generating said print data directly to said printer;
wherein said print data is generated by using said acquired print related information, and sent to said printer, and
wherein the network board confirms a model of the printer in which the network board is contained at a predetermined time.
2. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said information resources are appropriately acquired from a prescribed location on the network.
3. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said information resources are at least one of image data, text data, or intermediate data generated in the process of generating print data.
4. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said prescribed time is one of when said printer is turned on, upon receipt of instructions from a user, or upon receipt of said information resources.
5. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said print related information comprises at least one of a color conversion table, printer driver program, font data or font renderer program.
6. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said print related information is classified under at least two groups in accordance with the priority of acquisition thereof.
7. A network board according to claim 6,
characterized in that the print related information classified under a high-priority installation group comprises at least one of a color conversion table, printer driver program, basic font data or basic font renderer program.
8. A network board according to claim 6,
characterized in that the print related information classified under a low-priority installation group comprises at least one of a program for interpreting a format of said information resources to be received, font data of the font which is included in said information resources or the font renderer program of said font.
9. A network board according to claim 6,
characterized in that said network board, concerning a memory area for storing print related information, classifies and manages the storage area for each of said groups.
10. A network board according to claim 6,
characterized in that said network board, concerning print related information under a low-priority installation group, appropriately deletes the print related information at a prescribed time.
11. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said network board, upon acquiring print related information, accesses a server providing location information of the print related information, and inquires for the location information on the network of the print related information.
12. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said print related information is acquired in case that said print related information which has already been contained in said network board is judged to be different from said print related information which has been contained in a prescribed location on said network.
13. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that said print related information is acquired in case that said print related information which has already been contained in said network board is judged to be required to be replaced with said print related information which has been contained in a prescribed location on said network.
14. A network board according to claim 12,
characterized in that said network board makes said judgement by itself.
15. A network board according to claim 13,
characterized in that said network board makes said judgement by itself.
16. A network board according to claim 12,
characterized in that said judgement is made at a prescribed location on said network.
17. A network board according to claim 13,
characterized in that said judgement is made at a prescribed location on said network.
18. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that the print related information acquired from a prescribed location on said network is retained in said network board, and said print related information is held to be available until it is deleted.
19. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that if, upon acquiring said print related information from a prescribed location on said network, said network board comprises preceding print related information corresponding to said print related information which is acquired, said preceding print related information is deleted.
20. A network board according to claim 1,
characterized in that the print related information which is acquired from a prescribed location on said network contains information concerning a prescribed location on said network to be accessed upon the next acquisition of said print related information.

1. A hearing instrument microphone device, the microphone device comprising at least two microphone ports, a pressure difference microphone in communication with at least two of the ports and a pressure microphone in communication with at least one of the ports, wherein the acoustic center of the ports in communication with the pressure microphone is essentially at equal distances from locations of the ports in communication with the pressure difference microphone.
2. The microphone device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure microphone and the pressure difference microphone are arranged in a common casing.
3. The microphone device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure difference microphone comprise a pressure difference microphone cartridge with a membrane dividing the volume within the cartridge in two volume parts, the first volume part being, via a first opening of the pressure difference microphone, coupled to a first one of the ports, whereas the second volume part is, via a second opening of the pressure difference microphone, coupled to a second one of the ports.
4. The microphone device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure microphone is a pressure microphone comprising a pressure microphone cartridge, and a membrane dividing the cartridge volume in two volume parts, the first volume part being, via at least one pressure microphone opening, coupled to at least one of the ports, whereas the second volume part is closed.
5. The microphone device according to claim 1, wherein membranes of the pressure microphone and of the pressure difference microphone are parallel.
6. The microphone device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure difference microphone and the pressure microphone are both coupled to the same plurality of ports.
7. The microphone device according to claim 1, wherein the pressure difference microphone is coupled to two pressure difference microphone ports and wherein the pressure microphone is coupled to at least one pressure microphone port separate from the pressure difference microphone ports.
8. A hearing instrument comprising a microphone device according to claim 1 and further comprising a signal processor and a receiver, the signal processor capable of processing the signals produced by the microphones in response to an incident acoustic signal, of combining these signals into a processed signal with an adjustable directional dependency, and of activating the receiver to convert an electronic output signal produced by the signal processor into an acoustic output signal.
9. The hearing instrument according to claim 8, wherein the signal processor is capable of applying a correction filter to at least one of the pressure microphone signal and the pressure difference microphone signal, prior to combining the signals.
10. A hearing instrument comprising a pressure difference microphone, a pressure microphone, and a signal processor, the signal processor being capable of obtaining a first digital input signal representative of a sound signal incident on the pressure microphone and a second digital input signal representative of a sound signal incident on the pressure difference microphone, and of processing the first and second signals into an output signal, the signal processor comprising a correction filter adjusting a frequency dependency of at least one of the first and the second output signals into an adjusted first or second input signal, respectively; and a beamformer capable of combining the adjusted first and second signals onto a beamformed signal with an adjustable directional dependency.
11. The hearing instrument according to claim 10, wherein one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
the acoustic center of the microphone ports in communication with the pressure microphone is essentially at equal distances from the locations of the microphone ports in communication with the pressure difference microphone;
an electronic delay compensation is established to compensate for a sound path difference of sound incident on the directional microphone and of sound incident on the pressure microphone arising from different acoustic centers of the pressure microphone and the pressure difference microphone.
12. The hearing instrument according to claim 10, wherein the beamformer is an adaptive beamformer.
13. The hearing instrument according to claim 10, wherein the pressure difference microphone and the pressure microphone are part of a microphone device according to claim 1.

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 wavelength monitoring system, comprising:
a master unit, comprising:
a wavelength swept optical source;
a detection unit;
a processing unit; and
a wavelength reference unit producing a reference signal related to the wavelength output of the optical source;

at least one slave unit, comprising:
a detection unit; and
a processing unit;

a communication arrangement providing at least transfer of information from the master unit to the slave unit; and
a light coupling arrangement for coupling light from the optical source into at least one string of optical sensors and for coupling light reflected from the at least one string of optical sensors, wherein the detection units of the slave and master are arranged to detect portions of reflected light.
2. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the reference signal is digitized and transferred from the processing unit of the master unit to the processing unit of the at least one slave unit via the communication arrangement.
3. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the reference signal is transferred to the processing units of the master and the at least one slave units.
4. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein information related to the reference signal is processed by the processing unit of the master unit and is communicated to the at least one slave unit.
5. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the reference signal comprises information related to the intensity of light from the wavelength swept optical source with time after interacting with a reference element in the wavelength reference unit.
6. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein a delay exists between equidistant samples in the master and slave processing units and is corrected.
7. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 6, wherein a synchronization pulse from the master processing unit is transmitted to the slave processing unit to measure the delay.
8. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 7, wherein a delay correction factor based on the synchronization pulse is provided to the slave unit.
9. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the reference signal is used to linearize a light sweep from the wavelength swept optical source.
10. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising multiple slave units, each having a detection unit arranged to detected portions of reflected light, wherein amplitudes of the master and multiple slave detection units are equalized.
11. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 10, wherein the amplitudes are equalized by varying the output power of the optical source with time based on the amplitudes of the master and multiple slave detection units.
12. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the light coupling arrangement comprises a circulator configured to receive the reflected light from the at least one string of optical sensors and pass the reflected light to a splitter.
13. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 12, further comprising multiple slave units, each having a detection unit, wherein the splitter is configured to divide the reflected light between the multiple slave detection units.
14. The optical wavelength monitoring system of claim 13, wherein the splitter is configured to divide the reflected light unequally between the multiple slave detection units based on a desired signal-to-noise ratio at each of the multiple slave detection units.