Anti-tamper (“AT”) protection is employed so that it is very difficult to reverse engineer or alter the function of electronic hardware (e.g., computer processors, integrated circuits, multi-chip modules, etc). For some commercial applications, designers often spend vast sums of money to develop a “next generation” circuit. These companies often wish to deter, or at least hamper a competitor's reverse engineering efforts. The motivation in this case is to protect valuable intellectual property. Military and Government users also have a strong interest in AT protection. When new military hardware is fielded, often the consequences of capture are not fully understood by the designer of the hardware. Similarly, the combat loss of any one of a thousand pieces of sensitive, high-tech military hardware could do irreparable damage to national security.
Most AT is categorized as either passive or active. In each case, the intent is to delay, prevent or stop tampering and potential reverse engineering of an electronic circuit. Passive AT is currently the most widespread method of deterring an opponent from reverse engineering or spoofing an electronic circuit. Current passive AT arrangements include encapsulation or various types of conformal coatings such as epoxies. Methods to defeat common encapsulants are well documented.
AT standards have been defined according to the Federal Information Protection Standard (FIPS) 140-2. The standard describes the requirements for four levels of protection. For the standards for multi-chip, embedded modules, Level 1 calls for standard passivation techniques (i.e., a sealing coat applied over the chip circuitry to protect it against environmental or other physical damage). The standard describes that Level 2 can be achieved using anti-tamper coatings or passive AT. Level 3 may use passive AT if tampering will likely destroy the module. Level 4 requires the use of active AT technologies.
Layered anti-tamper arrangements are also employed in which alternating layers of passive AT with active AT yields a synergy in probing difficulty. With active AT methods, a protected circuit will take some action when unauthorized activities are detected. Any number of events can trigger a programmed circuit response. Examples of active triggering arrangements include: voltage, photon detection, acceleration, strain, thermal, chemical attack, and proximity or tamper-respondent enclosures. A tamper-respondent package can theoretically detect probing by proximity detection or by an external activity mutilating an active circuit, exterior to what is being protected. The response of an active AT circuit upon triggering is also widely variable. For example, zeroization may be employed in which critical memory cells or an entire die can be erased. Similarly, a response can trigger overwriting of some or all of a memory die. Another detection response is to physically obliterate a critical circuit element or elements.


For almost as long as there have been computer networks, there have been schemes which allow computers to access each other's file systems over the network in much the same manner as they access their own local file system. The first widely used remote file access protocol was Sun Microsystems' network file system (NFS), which became very popular with the rise of Unix in the mid 1980's (see B. Nowicki, “NFS: Network File System Protocol Specification,” Network Working Group RFC1094, March 1989). At about the same time, the SMB network file sharing protocol was developed by IBM for use with their PC's. Subsequent versions of SMB have become widely used on networked PC's running Microsoft Windows, and on their fileservers.
Keeping data in networked file systems allows users to access the same data environment from different workstations on the network, and greatly simplifies system administration and the sharing of public data. For these and other reasons, it is expected that network data repositories will become widely popular among PC users as soon as typical PC network connections become fast enough to make substantial remote storage of data practical. Indeed, some Web-based services which make specific types of user data accessible from any Web browser are already popular—for example, email services and appointment calendars. Servers for individuals' Web pages also follow the network-data model.
Many companies are offering additional Web-based services which store their data remotely, seeking new applications that will become popular. Some of these companies also offer substantial amounts of free network-based file storage. The greatest obstacle to the acceptance of these new network-based services has been slow network connections. Most computer users currently connect to the network through a telephone modem, which provides them with a connection that is about 1000 times slower than the I/O bandwidth to their local hard disk. This makes it relatively inconvenient to use remote network-based storage for most of the applications that these users now run on their local file system.
Some companies currently sell network-based backup services to PC users. For a fee, these companies provide a combination of PC software and networked storage space that allows users to keep a copy of their most important data remotely. For privacy, the PC software encrypts user data before sending it to be stored, using the user's individual public key. Some of these companies also offer Web-based access to backed-up data. Thus far, these companies have not achieved an appreciable penetration into the PC user market. Slow network connections, the cost and effort involved in obtaining and using such services, and a low perceived benefit attached to maintaining backups of file data, have been major obstacles. For the moment, most of the Gigabytes of programs and data that users accumulate remain exclusively on their local hard disks.
Use of network storage is also encouraged by techniques which speed up network file transfers. One such technique involves the concept of a “digital fingerprint” of a file, also called a “hash function”, a “content signature” or a “message digest” (see R. L. Rivest, “MD4 Message Digest Algorithm,” Network Working Group RFC1186, October 1990). A fingerprint is a fixed-length value obtained by mixing all of the bits of the file together in some prescribed deterministic manner—the same data always produces the same fingerprint. The fingerprint is used as a compact representative of the whole file: if two file fingerprints don't match, then the files are different. For a well designed fingerprint, the chance that any two actual files will ever have the same fingerprint can be made arbitrarily small. Such a fingerprint serves as a unique name for the file data.
Fingerprints have been used for many years to avoid unnecessary file transfers. One application of this sort has been in Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs), which have used fingerprints since the early 1990's to avoid the communication cost of uploading file data that is already present in the BBS, but associated with a different file name. Fingerprints have also been used in BBSs to conserve storage space by not storing duplicate data (for an example of both uses, see Frederick W. Kantor's Content Signature software, FWKCS, which has been in use by bulletin boards such as Channel 1 since at least 1993). These BBSs maintain a table of fingerprints for all files already present. When a new file is uploaded for storage on the BBS, its fingerprint is taken. If the BBS already contains a file with the same fingerprint (regardless of the file's name) then the duplicate data is not stored. Similarly, a client computer wishing to store data into the BBS can compute the fingerprint of the file that it wishes to send, and send that first. If a file containing this data is already present in the BBS, then the client is informed and need not send anything.
D. A. Farber and R. D. Lachman, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,791 (Data processing system using substantially unique identifiers to identify data items, whereby identical data items have the same identifiers, filed October 1997) carry the idea of file fingerprints a step further, using them as the primary identifier for all data-items stored in a file system. In their scheme, not only are fingerprints used to avoid unnecessary transmission and duplicate-storage of file data (as in the BBS scheme mentioned above), but they also use fingerprints directly to gain read access to data. In this scheme, access to “licensed” data is controlled by associating explicit lists of licensees with specific data-items. Such a control mechanism doesn't scale well when applied to intellectual property protection in general. Any data-item added to the system which is copyrighted, for example, would have to have attached to it an explicit list of all users who are legally allowed to read it. Otherwise someone can give out access to the data-item to everyone that uses the file system by anonymously publishing the fingerprint of the data-item. Constructing an explicit legal-access list for each data-item is in general cumbersome, difficult and intrusive.
Furthermore, existing schemes which use fingerprints to identify redundant data and avoid unnecessary transmission and storage depend upon the storage system being able to examine previously stored data. If users independently encrypt their data for privacy, they can't take advantage of each others data to save on transmission or on storage. If data is unencrypted, then the storage system maintainers have complete access to all user data. They may be tempted or coerced into looking at this data, and in some situations may be legally obliged to provide parts of it to third parties.


Audiovisual content (e.g., television programming) may often be used to transmit information to viewers. This information may include incentives, coupons, and so on. For example, a clothing store may advertise on a certain television channel and display the address, telephone number and the like of the clothing store. However, some users may have difficulty remembering portions or all of the information.
Information such as an address, telephone number, store name, and so on may foe stored in a quick response (QR) code. A QR code is a matrix barcode that may be readable by mobile phones with a camera, smart phones, computing devices, specialized scanners, and so on. The matrix barcode may consist of black blocks or modules arranged in a pattern against a white background. The information encoded within the matrix barcode may be text uniform resource indicator (URI), alphanumeric, numeric and other data. Matrix barcodes storing addresses and URIs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, other objects where users may desire information, and so on. Users with, a camera phone or other mobile device equipped with the correct reader application can convert a photographic image of the matrix barcode to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, open a webpage in the phone's browser, and so on.
A number of display devices, such as televisions, may be configured to present three dimensional (3-D) images and/or 3-D video. These display devices may display content that appears as a 3-D image when viewed through 3-D-specific glasses. For example, the display device may display two images superimposed on each other, where each image is projected through a different polarizing filter. The viewer may view the image through a pair of glasses having a pair of lenses with different polarized orientations. The first orientation may correspond to the first filtered image and the second orientation may correspond to the second filtered image. Thus, as the image is displayed on the screen, each eye of the viewer may perceive a different image. This creates a 3-D image (as viewed by the viewer) as each eye sees the same image, but at a slightly different angle.
Other techniques such as anaglyphic, alternative-frame sequencing, and autosteroscopic may also be used to create a 3-D appearance on a display device. These techniques (either with or without specialized lenses) present one version of the image to a left eye of the viewer and a second version of the image to the right eye of the viewer. The two images may be the same image (or substantially the same) but be slightly offset from each other. As the human eye processes the two images together, the brain sees a 3-D image. These 3-D techniques may be used to display audiovisual content in 3-D. For example, many movies may be presented in 3-D to allow a user to have a more interactive movie-watching experience.
The information included in this Background section of the specification, including any references cited herein and any description or discussion thereof, is included for technical reference purposes only and is not to be regarded subject matter by which the scope of the invention as defined in the claims is to be bound.


1. Field of Invention
The field of the currently claimed embodiments of this invention relates to solution processes for producing electrodes for electro-optic devices and devices that use the electrodes.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The most dominant transparent conductive film currently in use for electro-optic devices, such as liquid crystal displays, touch-screen displays and photovoltaic cells, for example, is Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO). High transparency and low sheet resistant have ensured its wide application in many areas. Although it has been used for several decades, there is significant interest in developing alternatives to ITO because of the decreasing availability, and accompanying increase in price, of indium. Due to the high and increasing demand for transparent electrodes, and the limited supply of indium, there is currently an urgent need for new transparent electrodes.
There are several candidates for transparent electrodes based on materials that can potentially replace ITO. These include the use of carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene, or thin metal films, for example. However, these candidates all have disadvantages that they compromise between optical transparency and electrical conductivity.
Recently, some efforts have been directed to using silver nanowire (AgNW) networks to form transparent conductors. There are several issues that remain to be addressed for the large scale fabrication of AgNW films. First, a good electrical connection between crossed AgNWs is a key factor to achieve high conductivity. However, due to surfactant coating of PVP on the surface of AgNW, extra processes are often utilized to fuse the crossed AgNWs together. These processes include high temperature thermal annealing (>150 ° C.), applying extra pressure or vacuum filtering on anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane substrates and HCl vapor treatment, etc. Second, strong adhesion between AgNW and substrates is necessary to obtain stable and robust AgNW fibrous films. Substrate surface modification has been used to improve the adhesion of AgNWs on the substrate. Burying AgNW into polymer films by applying pressure can also provide strong adhesion between AgNWs and substrates. Moreover, nail polish or in-situ polymerization has also been reported to improve the adhesion. However, these efforts have not provided transparent electrodes and methods of production that are adequate to replace ITO. Therefore, there remains a need for improved transparent electrodes, methods of producing the electrodes, and devices that use the electrodes.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to front constructions of motor vehicles, and more particularly to the front constructions of a type that is equipped with a heat exchanger support frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, to simplify the process for mounting heat exchangers, such as radiator, condenser and the like, onto a front base of motor vehicle body flowing on a vehicle body assembling line, a sub-assembly system has been widely employed. That is, in this system, before being mounted to the front base of motor vehicle body, the heat exchangers are mounted to a heat exchanger support frame to constitute a so-called xe2x80x9cfront end modulexe2x80x9d, and then, the front end module is mounted to the front base of motor vehicle body flowing on the main assembling line.
One of known heat exchanger support frames is shaped rectangular and generally includes upper and lower horizontal members and right and left side stays or vertical members. In this known technique, for mounting the front end module, which has the heat exchangers previously mounted thereon, onto the front base of vehicle body, the side stays of the heat exchanger support frame are fixed to front ends of right and left side members of the front base by means of bolts and nuts respectively.
However, in the above-mentioned technique, because of necessity of assuring the mechanical strength and matching the size thereof with the front ends of the side members of the front base of vehicle body, the side stays of the heat exchanger support frame are compelled to have an enlarged width. This however means narrowing of an air passing aperture defined by the heat exchanger support frame, which of course affects the performance of the heat exchangers held by the support member.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a front construction of a motor vehicle body, which is free of the above-mentioned drawback.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a front construction of a motor vehicle body which comprises a front base of the vehicle body; a heat exchanger support frame having an air passing aperture which is defined by upper and lower horizontal members and two mutually spaced side stays which extend between the upper and lower horizontal members; a skirt portion integral with the lower horizontal member and extending along a lower portion of the lower horizontal member, the skirt portion facing forward with respect to the vehicle body keeping a given inclination relative to the heat exchanger support member to serve as an air guide for the air passing aperture; recessed seat portions integrally formed by the skirt portion; and fixing members which fix the recessed seat portions to the front base.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat exchanger support frame which is to be mounted on a front base of vehicle body. The heat exchanger support frame comprises upper and lower horizontal members; two mutually spaced side stays which extend between the upper and lower horizontal members thereby to define a generally rectangular air passing aperture therebetween; a skirt portion integral with the lower horizontal member and extending along a lower portion of the same, the skirt portion facing forward keeping a given inclination relative to the heat exchanger support frame to serve as an air guide for the air passing aperture; and recessed seat portions integrally formed by the skirt portion, the recessed seat portions causing the skirt portion to have a three dimensional structure having an increased mechanical strength.


Sleep is generally beneficial and restorative to a person. Therefore, it exerts a great influence on a person's quality of life. The human sleep/wake cycle generally conforms to a circadian rhythm that is regulated by a biological clock. Regular periods of sleep enable the body and mind to rejuvenate and rebuild. The body may perform various tasks during sleep, such as organizing long term memory, integrating new information, and renewing tissue and other body structures.
Lack of sleep and/or decreased sleep quality may have a number of causal factors including, e.g., respiratory disturbances, nerve or muscle disorders, and emotional conditions, such as depression and anxiety. Chronic long-term sleep-related disorders such as chronic insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing, and sleep movement disorders may significantly affect a patient's sleep quality and quality of life.
Sleep apnea, for example, is a fairly common breathing disorder characterized by periods of interrupted breathing experienced during sleep. Sleep apnea is typically classified based on its etiology. One type of sleep apnea, denoted as obstructive sleep apnea, occurs when the patient's airway is obstructed by the collapse of soft tissue in the rear of the throat. Central sleep apnea is caused by a derangement of the central nervous system control of respiration. The patient ceases to breathe when control signals from the brain to the respiratory muscles are absent or interrupted. Mixed apnea is a combination of the central and obstructive sleep apnea types. Regardless of the type of apnea people experiencing an apnea event stop breathing for a period of time. The cessation of breathing may occur repeatedly during sleep, sometimes hundreds of times a night and occasionally for a minute or longer.
In addition to apnea, other types of disordered breathing have been identified, including, for example, hypopnea (shallow breathing), dyspnea (labored breathing), hyperpnea (deep breathing), and tachypnea (rapid breathing). Combinations of the disordered respiratory events described above have also been observed. For example, Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR, which is sometimes referred to as periodic breathing) is associated with rhythmic increases and decreases in tidal volume caused by alternating periods of hyperpnea followed by apnea or hypopnea. The breathing interruptions of CSR may be associated with central apnea, or may be obstructive in nature. CSR is frequently observed in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and is associated with an increased risk of accelerated CHF progression.


The invention relates to a locking device, in particular for a door or the like of a vehicle, according to the features of the preamble of patent claim 1.
DE 197 39 340.3 discloses a locking device which is used, in particular, for a door, a trunk lid or a tailgate or the like of a vehicle. Here, an actuating drive is provided, which transmits its movement, via a transmission element, to an element of the locking device, various functional positions of the locking device, such as a theft protection position, central locking position, etc., being set, depending on the movement of the actuating drive. Although DE 197 39 340.3 describes the operative connection of the actuating drive to the element of the locking device via the transmission element, no indications as to the activation of the actuating drive or transmission element and as to the detection of their positions can be gathered from this patent application.
The object on which the invention is based, therefore, is to provide a locking device which specifies not only the implementation of the functional positions, but also the activation of the actuating drive and the execution of activation.


There is a general need for a simple and accurate apparatus for rapidly distributing material in the form of small solid bodies simultaneously and uniformly into a plurality of spaced containers for further processing. For example, seeds sown in containers must be covered to prevent them from washing away, and to prevent the build-up of moss and algae on top of the containers. A number of devices have been developed to spread covering material, usually granite grit or basalt gravel, over the seed. These prior devices are relatively bulky, mechanically complex, and somewhat unreliable. For example, some of the prior devices employ revolving drum members, rotating discs, or shutter boxes, all of which are quite bulky and expensive, as well as not being satisfactorily precise. Consequently, there is a definite need for a simpler, less expensive, and more accurate manually operable spreader usable with various materials, which can be adapted for use with different types of containers and with different kinds of seed covering materials, or for distributing seeds themselves.


Thrust bearing assemblies generally include a pair of axially spaced races and a circular complement of rolling bearing elements received between pathways ground into the races. The bearing is so named because, while operating, it is under a compressive load that forces or thrusts the races axially toward one another. While the load may have a significant radial component, it does not generally reverse axial direction. Consequently, such a bearing needs no structure to prevent the races from axially separating once the bearing is installed and operating. However, such a bearing still must be shipped and handled prior to installation, and it is then subjected to forces that would axially separate the races, in the absence of some structure to retain them together.
One common application for thrust bearings is the suspension of a vehicle, especially steerable McPherson struts, where the provision of a rolling bearing gives superior steering and handling feel. A vehicle suspension is an application where unitization of the bearing during installation and handling on the line is desirable. Furthermore, a vehicle suspension is a harsh environment where a sealed bearing is almost essential. There are many different approaches to both sealing and unitization in steerable McPherson strut bearings disclosed in the published patents. One approach is to mount the bearing within the elastomer material of the the upper mount of the suspension strut itself so as to wrap and seal the bearing. An example may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,655, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Another possibility, when the bearing can be partially protected and shielded within the pad, is to use a non-rubbing labyrinth seal, as may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,744, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Such an approach finds utility where it is practical to mount the bearing within the elastomer pad of the upper mount, which is not always possible.
Another approach is to mold elastomer seals directly to one of the bearing races and snap engage the seal with the other race, thereby both sealing and unitizing the bearing. Two examples may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,120,543 and 4,400,041, also assigned to the same assignee. However, there is a great cost disadvantage to directly molding elastomer to steel, as the molding process must be carefully controlled. There is also the disadvantage that the elasticity of the elastomer is then inevitably limited by the inelasticity of the steel to which it is bonded. By far the least expensive seal is a free molded seal, used in a bearing in which some structure other than the seal itself unitizes the bearing. An example may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,523, where free molded O-rings compressed between the bearing races provide the seal, while separate snap engaged housing members enclose the races to unitize the bearing. A disadvantage of an O-ring is that it requires the compressive operating load to keep it in sealing engagement, and it disengages almost immediately upon any axial separation of the races. While that is not a problem when separate housings prevent the races from axially separating prior to installation, separate housings themselves present a cost penalty. In addition, although it is not visible in the scale of the drawings in U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,523, a conventional O-ring presents problems of its own. It cannot be allowed to just float freely between the races, some mounting groove must be added to one of the races to confine the O-ring and to prevent it from gathering as it rubs on the other race. U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,296 illustrates such an O-ring mounting groove. Besides necessitating an extra manufacturing step, the provision of an O-ring mounting groove in one race destroys the symmetry of the bearing, a symmetry which is itself very desirable from a manufacturing and installation standpoint. Such problems with conventional free molded O-rings have even led to designs in which the O-ring is, in effect, directly molded to one of the races, despite the cost penalty, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,608, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention.


Millions of people suffer from various types of respiratory disorders that cause abnormal breathing patterns. Examples of such respiratory disorders include sleep apnea, asthma and emphysema, each of which is briefly discussed below.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a disease in which breathing ceases during sleep. It is associated with increased mortality and morbidity, including sudden death, heart failure, hypertension, stroke, and neuropsychiatric and behavioral disturbances.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a very common type of sleep apnea, which often affects obese persons. This disorder occurs when a person's upper airway becomes partially or completely blocked, causing breathing to be interrupted intermittently during sleep. The blocked or obstructed breathing prevents deep stages of sleep, often resulting in daytime drowsiness.
There are a number of different reasons that the upper airway can become obstructed. For example, obstruction can result from upper airway abnormalities, such as enlarged tonsils or enlarged adenoids. Other upper airway abnormalities may result from obesity, an abnormally wide neck, or from an anatomically narrowed upper airway. Such abnormalities often result in excess tissue within the throat, which cause the upper airway to become blocked when throat muscles relax during sleep.
The most commonly prescribed treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). In CPAP treatment, the patient sleeps wearing a facial or nasal mask that delivers air pressure that stents the airway open. For many patients, CPAP therapy works well. However, many other patients find the masks very uncomfortable, preventing them from sleeping, and often causing them to remove the masks and thus avoid their treatment. Further, CPAP therapy has had no effect in some patients and has even resulted in increased episodes of apnea in some patients.
Other conventional treatments for obstructive sleep apnea include use of anti-depressant drugs, such as protriptyline (often marketed as Vivactil™ or Triptil™). In addition to not always being effective, protriptyline has a number of side effects, such as dizziness, drowsiness, dryness of mouth, headaches, increased appetite, nausea, tiredness or weakness, unpleasant taste and weight gain. Less frequent side effect include diarrhea, heartburn, increased sweating, trouble in sleeping, and vomiting. There are also rare but more severe side effects, such as blurred vision, confusion or delirium, constipation (especially in the elderly), decreased sexual ability (more common with amoxapine and clomipramine), difficulty in speaking or swallowing, eye pain, fainting, fast or irregular heartbeat (pounding, racing, skipping) and hallucinations.
OSA can also be treated surgically. However the costs are high, the risks are high, and the success rates vary greatly depending on the procedure and the experience and skills of the surgeon. Additionally, the surgery can affect speech and the ability to swallow.
Another type of sleep apnea is central sleep apnea (CSA), which is a different than OSA. CSA is a neurological disorder that results from problems with breathing control mechanisms, as opposed to airway blockage (as with OSA). CSA can occur, for example, due to the portion of the brain that controls breathing failing to signal the body to breathe. Persons suffering from CSA are often awoken during sleep, leading to sleep deprivation, and thus, daytime drowsiness.
While CPAP therapy is sometime used with patients suffering from CSA, other types of mechanical ventilation are often the only treatment available to ensure continued breathing. Unfortunately, complications may result from prolonged mechanical ventilation.
A further type of respiratory disorder that occurs during sleep is hypopnea, which is generally defined as decrease in airflow by at least 50% for ten seconds or more. In this document, hypopnea will be considered a type of sleep apnea, even though shallow breathing continues during hypopnea.
Diagnosis of sleep apnea is not simple because there can be many different reasons for disturbed sleep. While there are various tests for evaluating a person for sleep apnea, most are very expensive and sometime inconclusive. Typically a patient is required to sleep overnight at a sleep treatment center, so that the patient can be monitored and diagnosed. Such overnight stays are typically very expensive and are sometimes inconclusive because the patient either did not exhibit their normal sleep patterns or because the patient does not experience sleep apnea every night. Additionally, since treatments for OSA and CSA are often different, it is important that the type of sleep apnea be accurately diagnosed.
As is evident from the above description, there is the need for improved systems and methods for diagnosing sleep apnea and treating sleep apnea. This will allow appropriate treatments to be prescribed. Further, even after a treatment is being provided, it is important to chronically monitor a person's breathing in order to determine if specific treatments are working, to determine if treatments can be fine tuned and/or to determine if alternative treatments should be used.
Asthma
Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system, which includes a person's nose, mouth, trachea, lungs, and air tubes or airways that connect the nose and mouth with the lungs (these tubes are called bronchi and bronchioles). When a person breathes, the muscles that are wrapped around the airways are very loose and relaxed. Since the lining inside the airways is very thin, the relaxed state of the muscles allows the airways to open widely so that air easily passes in and out of the small air sacs (called alveoli) that make up the lungs. Breathing includes the moving of air in and out of the lungs.
During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways tighten, or “spasm” and the lining inside the airways swell or thicken, and become blocked with thick mucous. This makes the airways much thinner than usual so it is harder to move air in and out of the air sacs, making it difficult to breathe. During an asthma attack, it is actually harder to breathe out than it is to breathe in. This means that during an asthma attack, it takes much longer to breathe out (expire) than it does to breathe in (inspire). Since it is so hard to breathe out during an asthma attack, more and more air gets trapped inside the lungs making a person feel like they can't breathe in or out.
There are different types of asthma, including allergy-induced asthma and activity-induced asthma. Additionally, there are different severities of asthma, including mild, intermittent, moderate and severe asthma. Different types of asthma and different severities of asthma may be treated in different manners. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to obtain information that is useful in diagnosing the type and/or severity of a person's asthmatic condition. Further, even after a person's asthma has been diagnosed, the proper treatment needs to be provided. Treatments include medication, altering diet and/or altering activities. However, even if two different people have the same symptoms, they may not react in the same way to the same treatment. That is, not all types of treatments work well with all people. Accordingly, even after a treatment regimen has been prescribed, it is important to chronically monitor a person's breathing in order to determine if specific treatments are working, to determine if treatments can be fine tuned and/or to determine if alternative treatments should be used.
Emphysema
Emphysema is an abnormal condition of the lungs, which belongs to a group of conditions called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Emphysema, which generally develops gradually over a number of years, typically results in an increased shortness of breath, not relieved by sitting upright, and a chronic cough. The shortness of breath is generally worse on exertions such as walking up a flight of stairs or eating a big meal. Eventually, breathing becomes harder and harder causing fatigue, weakness, and weight loss. Emphysema can result for various reasons, such as chronic bronchitis, or chronic irritation to the lungs by dust, pollution, and cigarette smoking. Such chronic irritations cause the tiny air sacs in the lungs to loose their elasticity and become distended, causing inhaled air to become trapped in the air sacs. As with most respiratory disorders, there is no cure for emphysema but there are numerous treatments that can help relieve the shortness of breath.
There are different causes and severities for emphysema, each of which can be treated in multiple different manners. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to obtain information that is useful in diagnosing the type and/or severity of the emphysema. Further, even after a treatment is being provided, it is important to chronically monitor a person's breathing in order to determine if specific treatments are working, to determine if treatments can be fine tuned and/or to determine if alternative treatments should be used.
As can be appreciated from the above description, it would be useful to provide a means for temporarily and/or chronically monitoring various breathing disorders in order to properly diagnose the disorders, treat the disorders, and monitor the treatment of the disorders.