text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Sep 25, 1984
|Filing date
|Mar 2, 1982
|Priority date
|Sep 23, 1977
|Publication number
|Robert P. Popovich, Jack W. Moncrief, Glen D. Antwiler
|Original Assignee
|Hemotherapy, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (22), Non-Patent Citations (24), Referenced by (47), Classifications (10)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
In one aspect the present invention relates to plasmapheresis, that is, the separation of blood into a plasma fraction and a cellular component fraction. In another aspect, the present invention relates to plasmapheresis effected by ultrafiltration on a continuous basis, that is, a process whereby blood is withdrawn from a donor, separated into cellular component and plasma fractions, and the cellular components returned, in admixture with an appropriate amount of replacement fluid, to the donor at approximately the rate at which blood is being withdrawn. In still a further aspect, the present invention relates to an apparatus for the continuous separation of blood into plasma and cellular component fractions by ultrafiltration.
To appreciate the nature of the present invention, as well as the difficulties and complications which attend the separation of blood into cellular component and plasma fractions, a brief discussion of the makeup of blood is useful. Approximately 45% of the volume of blood is in the form of cellular components. These cellular components include red cells, also referred to as erythrocytes, white cells, also referred to as leukocytes, and platelets. Plasma makes up the remaining 55% of the volume of blood. Basically, plasma is the fluid portion of the blood which suspends the cells and comprises a solution of approximately 90% water, 7% protein and 3% of various other organic and inorganic solutes. As used herein, the term "plasmapheresis" refers to the separation of a portion of the plasma fraction of the blood from the cellular components thereof. Thus, plasmapheresis effected by ultrafiltration is to be distinguished from ultrafiltration of blood into a fraction containing cellular materials and the protein constituents of the plasma and a fraction comprising the aqueous portion of the plasma.
Separation of blood into a plasma fraction and a cellular component fraction is desirable for many medical reasons. For example, separation of blood into plasma fractions and cellular component fractions provides for a collection of plasma alone, with the cellular components being returned to the donor with a suitable portion of replacement fluid. Thus, continuous plasmapheresis provides for the collection of plasma from donors without the removal of the cellular components of the blood. Secondly, continuous plasmapheresis can be used therapeutically to remove pathogenic substances contained in the plasma portion of the blood. This can be accomplished by separating the cellular components from the diseased plasma and returning the cellular components to the patient in admixture with a suitable replacement fluid, or by further fractionating the patient's plasma to remove the unwanted substances and returning a major portion of the patient's plasma with the cellular components. Finally, a continuous plasmapheresis process can be employed for diagnostic purposes wherein plasma is separated on a continuous basis from the cellular components and analyzed to detect disease-causing substances or conditions therein.
In the past, ultrafiltration has been used on a continuous basis as a substitute for, or in combination with, dialysis methods in artificial kidneys and the like and has also been employed in batch-type plasmapheresis processes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,441 to Brown, issued May 18, 1971, discloses a means for purifying the blood by continuously ultrafiltering the blood to separate macromolecular substances having molecular weights higher than 10,000, or so, and generally at least 40,000-50,000 which includes blood cells, fat droplets, lipids, high molecular weight polypeptides and the like from the remaining ultrafiltered aqueous portion of the blood. Such operations are not true plasmapheresis processes, as defined herein, because blood is separated not into plasma and cellular component fractions but rather into macromolecular fractions (containing cellular components and portions of the plasma) and a low molecular weight fraction which contains the waste products which must be removed in an artificial kidney-type process. Further, ultrafiltration has been used for plasmapheresis on a noncontinuous basis. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,100 to Blatt et al., issued Dec. 5, 1972, discloses a process and apparatus for a blood fractionating process. However, the process and apparatus disclosed therein is for the fractionating of blood on a batch basis, that is, on a noncontinuous basis whereby blood is held in a reservoir and then circulated in a spiral flow over an ultrafiltration membrane to effect separation.
In any plasmapheresis-type process effected by ultrafiltration there are various problems which occur during the fractionating of the blood by passing it in a parallel flow pattern over a membrane, with a transmembrane pressure sufficient to push the plasma portion of the blood therethrough, while allowing the cellular component portion of the blood to remain thereon. One of these problems is that the flow rates must be controlled fairly closely. Thus, if the flow rate employed is too fast, turbulence will occur within the ultrafiltration cell which may cause hemolysis and the general destruction of cellular components. On the other hand, if flow rates and transmembrane pressures are not controlled adequately the cellular and macromolecular components of the blood will tend to clog up the membrane thus significantly slowing the ultrafiltration rate. Such clogging can also cause hemolysis to occur. While the above stated problems attend any ultrafiltration procedure employed to fractionate blood there are several other important problems which attend the continuous plasmapheresis of blood wherein cellular components of the blood are continually returned to the patient with an amount of replacement fluid equal to the volume of plasma extracted from the blood. Thus, one of the basic problems of plasmapheresis is that some of the cellular components of the blood, such as platelets for example, are very fragile and easily destroyed and therefore must be returned to the patient undergoing plasmapheresis within a time period shorter than the useful life thereof. Blood which is stored in blood banks and the like typically does not contain sufficient amounts of viable platelets, because the blood has been outside the body longer than the useful life thereof. Another problem attending continuous plasmapheresis includes the tendency of blood which is being separated by ultrafiltration to have damage occur to the clotting factors thereof. Basically there are approximately a dozen different clotting factors which can be affected, and, of course, re-injecting the cellular components back into a patient's system where the clotting factors have been adversely effected could result in a condition similar to hemophilia. Thirdly, denaturing of proteinaceous materials contained in the blood can be a problem if the blood is subjected to varying conditions outside the body for extended periods of time.
Thus, while ultrafiltration has been employed in the past either in a plasmapheresis batch system, or in a blood fractionating process in artificial kidney devices, there is not at present a process and apparatus which provides for the continuous separation of blood into plasma fractions and cellular component fractions, wherein the cellular component fractions are continuously returned to the donor with an effective amount of replacement fluid to thereby continuously separate the donor's plasma for use in transfusions, or diagnostic, or therapeutic procedures.
The process and apparatus of the subject invention provide for the fractionation of blood into a cellular component fraction and a plasma fraction on a continuous basis. Thus, according to the process described herein, a blood feed conduit communicating with a blood vessel, through a cannula formed therein, delivers whole blood to the apparatus further described hereinbelow which includes means for ultrafiltering and thereby separating the cellular components of the blood from the plasma fraction thereof. The cellular components are then returned in admixture with an appropriate amount of replacement fluid, through a second conduit and cannula formed in a second blood vessel of the patient or donor. Therefore, the apparatus and process described herein provide for the continuous separation of plasma from the cellular components of the blood with return of the latter with an appropriate amount of replacement fluid to the subject. The process is hereinafter referred to as continuous plasmapheresis.
Continuous plasmapheresis is accomplished by continually withdrawing whole blood from a blood vessel and pumping same through an ultrafiltration chamber to effect separation of plasma and cellular components. The blood passes in laminar flow, parallel to the plane of the ultrafiltration membrane at flow rates sufficient to create shear stress across the ultrafilter membrane of from about 10 dynes/cm2 to about 1000 dynes/cm2, a preferred range being from about 150 dynes/cm2 to about 600 dynes/cm2. The membrane has a pore size sufficient to allow the plasma components to pass therethrough but retain cellular components thereon. Generally pore sizes of from about 1.0 to about 0.05 microns can be employed, a preferred range being from about 1.0 to about 0.1 microns, membranes having a pore size of approximately 0.45 microns being especially preferred. Transmembrane pressures of from about 50 mmHg to about 700 mmHg are employed to separate the blood into cellular component and plasma fractions, a preferred range being about 100 to about 400 mmHg. Transmembrane pressures of about 200 mmHg are especially preferred. The cellular components are then admixed with a suitable amount of replacement fluid which can be clean plasma, an aqueous solution of dextran, normal serum albumin, normal saline, or any other suitable plasma substitute, and the replacement fluidcellular component mixture is then returned to the subject, on a continuous basis, through a cannula in a second blood vessel. A single vessel can be employed with the use of a double lumen catheter.
In order to accomplish the above process a special apparatus basically comprising one or more ultrafiltration cells in combination with pumping means, conduits, and pressure regulating and sensing devices is provided. The apparatus includes an ultrafiltration cell comprising at least one filter membrane separating the cell into filtering and filtrate chambers. The filtering chamber has an inlet and outlet thereto. A blood input pumping means is connected to the inlet of the filtering chamber portion of the ultrafiltration cell for delivering blood at a preselected flow rate. Recycling pumping means can also be connected via conduits between the inlet and outlet of the filtering chamber of the ultrafiltration cell. This recycling pumping provides for continuous movement of the blood, through the filtering chamber of the ultrafiltration cell at a rate sufficient to obtain the necessary shear rate when the flow of whole blood alone is insufficient. A plasma pumping means is connected to the outlet of the filtrate chamber for removing the plasma fraction therefrom. Transmembrane pressure is regulated either by adjusting the plasma pumping means, or the blood input and recycling pumping means, or both, or by restricting flow out of the ultrafiltration cell.
Additionally, replacement fluid pumping means, interconnected with the plasma pumping means in a manner such that the plasma and replacement fluid pumping means operate at substantially the same rate, is provided, thus insuring that the amount of replacement fluid added to the system is substantially equal to the amount of plasma being withdrawn.
In a preferred embodiment of the subject invention, the rate of ultrafiltration (or flux) through the ultrafilter membrane is increased by providing a plasma recycling flow through the filtrate chamber of the ultrafiltration cell, said flow being parallel to that of the whole blood in the filtering chamber, to thereby provide a constant transmembrane pressure across the entire flow path length of the membrane.
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of one embodiment of the plasmapheresis apparatus of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the plasmapheresis apparatus of the present invention.
It has been discovered that in order to continuously separate blood into a plasma fraction and a cellular component fraction and return the cellular components with an appropriate amount of replacement fluid to the patient or donor specific process conditions must be maintained during the ultrafiltration of the blood. Specifically, it has been discovered that by creating specific shear stresses of the blood as it flows over the membrane of the ultrafilter at transmembrane pressures of from about 100 to about 400 mm of mercury and employing an ultrafiltration membrane having a pore size of 0.45 microns fabricated from cellulose nitrate or regenerated cellulose the prior art problems of hemolysis, clogging, and polarization of membrane materials can be overcome and continuous plasmapheresis obtained.
Proper shear stress over the membrane is provided by recycling a portion of the cellular components at the outlet of the ultrafiltration cell to the inlet of the ultrafiltration cell. In this manner, the recycled portion admixes with the fresh incoming whole blood and provides for flow rates through the ultrafiltration cell in excess of those obtained from the input of the blood pumping means alone which is delivering blood to the ultrafiltration cell from a donor. In a preferred embodiment, further described below, replacement fluids are also added at the inlet of the ultrafiltration cell further increasing the volumetric flow rate (and therefore shear stress) through the ultrafiltration cell. Means for regulating the flow of the blood through the filtering chamber of the ultrafiltration cell can be provided at both the inlet and the outlet thereof so that a preferred pressure and flow rate across the filtering side of the membrane can be maintained.
A plasma pumping means is provided for removing plasma from the filtrate side of the ultrafiltration cell at a rate sufficient to insure that preferred transmembrane pressures of from about 100 to about 400 and preferably about 200 mm of mercury are maintained. A pressure transducer for sensing and measuring the pressure on the filtrate side of the ultrafiltration cell is provided for regulation purposes. The plasma pumping means is interconnected, for example by means of a common drive shaft, with a replacement fluid pump such that replacement fluids are added to the system at substantially the same rate at which plasma is being withdrawn. Thus, the volumetric flow rates in and out of the continous plasmapheresis apparatus of the subject invention will be essentially equal during operation. Replacement fluids are admixed with the cellular components either by connecting the replacement fluid conduit with the outlet from the ultrafiltration cell or the input thereof as disclosed above. In the latter case the replacement fluids dilute the cellular components which are reconstituted to their normal levels in the ultrafiltration cell. This prevents the cellular components from being densely packed which can result in excessive hemolysis. The replacement fluids employed can either be plasma, or a suitable substitute therefor.
In another embodiment of the present invention a unique plasma filtrate flow, parallel to that of the flow of blood over the filtering side of the ultrafiltration membrane, is employed in order to obtain relatively constant transmembrane pressures over the entire membrane surface. This is accomplished by recycling plasma filtrate through the filtrate chamber of the ultrafiltration cell in the same direction and parallel to the flow of the blood which is being ultrafiltered in the filtering chamber of the ultrafiltration cell. By regulating the inlet and outlet pressures of the plasma recycle such that the pressure drop across the filtrate chamber of the ultrafiltration cell equals the pressure drop of the blood across the filtering chamber substantially constant transmembrane pressures are obtained. This is important because there is a maximum allowable transmembrane pressure which can be employed at a given shear rate without causing excessive damage to the cellular components. The result is that ultrafiltration rates, or fluxes, are increased in the order of twice that when plasma filtrate is removed from the filtrate chamber without such recycling. In the embodiment described previously wherein plasma is simply removed from the filtrate chamber of the ultrafiltration cell the filtrate side of the membrane is essentially at a uniform pressure. Thus, transmembrane pressure is high (or at the maximum) at the portion of the membrane adjacent the blood inlet side of the filtering chamber and progressively becomes smaller as the blood flows through the channel toward the blood outlet of the filtering chamber. However, by providing a pressure drop of plasma filtrate across the filtrate side of the membrane which is equal to the pressure drop of the blood flowing across the filtering side of the membrane the transmembrane pressure is kept constant across the entire flow path of the blood through the ultrafiltration cell. This allows for the use of long filtering chamber flow paths which would otherwise be prohibited because of excessive inlet transmembrane pressures with concomitant cellular destruction. This is an important design criteria for the manufacture of coil type ultrafiltration cells.
Now referring to FIG. 1, a detailed description of the continuous plasmapheresis process of the subject invention according to a preferred embodiment will be described. Blood enters the processing system of the subject invention via conduit 1 which communicates with a blood vessel of the subject via a suitable catheter. The conduit can comprise various types of flexible plastic tubing including, for example, non-thrombogenic materials such as heparinized polytetrafluoroethylene, heparinized surgical grade silicon rubber, and the like. Generally, conduits useful in the present invention can be flexible tubing having inner diameters of from about 1/16 inch to about 3/8 inch so as to be sufficient to provide the necessary flow rates required by the process of the subject invention. The blood flow in conduit 1 will normally be from about 20 ml/minute to about 400 ml/minute depending on the blood vessel and the physical characteristics of the subject, if the process is being run on a human. Therefore, the flow rate in conduit 1 is regulated via inlet pumping means 3 which can, for example, be a common type of pump used in medical apparatus such as a peristaltic pump. Inlet conduit 1 can then empty into a drip cell 5 in order to insure that any entrapped gas bubbles will be removed prior to the introduction of the blood into the ultrafiltration cell 9 further described hereinbelow. A pressure gauge, or other pressure indicating instrument, 7 can be employed for monitoring the inlet pressure of the blood flow coming from inlet pumping means 3. Inlet conduit 1 empties into ultrafiltration cell 9 which basically comprises a filtering chamber 9a at the top portion thereof and a filtrate chamber 9b at the lower portion thereof, the two chambers being separated by an ultrafiltration membrane 11. The ultrafiltration cell, more fully described hereinbelow, partially separates the whole blood into a cellular fraction which remains on top of the ultrafiltration membrane 11 within filtering chamber 9a and a plasma fraction which passes through ultrafiltration membrane 11 and into filtrate chamber 9b. The concentrated cellular components are passed from the ultrafiltration cell via outlet conduit 13 and a portion thereof, in admixture with makeup fluid, which has been added to the system in a manner described below, are returned to the subject via drip cell 15 which prevents the transmission of air bubbles to the patient and a suitable catheter inserted in a blood vessel of the subject. A second pressure indicating instrument 17 can be used to monitor the pressure at the outlet end of the ultrafiltration cell.
A portion of the cellular component fraction admixed with replacement fluid is recycled through the ultrafiltration cell via recycle conduit 19 and recycle pumping means 21. The amount of fluid recycled in this manner will depend upon the flow rates desired to maintain the approximate shear rates in the particular ultrafiltration cell employed which will generally be in a range of from about 10 dynes/cm2 to about 1000 dynes/cm2 with a preferred range of from about 150 to about 600 dynes/cm2.
The plasma fraction flowing into filtrate chamber 9b through ultrafiltering membrane 11 is removed via plasma outlet conduit 23. Plasma outlet conduit 23 communicates with pressure sensing means 25 which in turn controls the pumping rate of plasma pumping means 29. In a preferred embodiment, pressure sensing means 25 can comprise a pressure transducer which generates an electrical signal of varying strength in response to the pressure in plasma outlet conduit 23. The electrical signal generated by such a transducer is then communicated to pump control means 27 which can comprise, for example, a rheostat which in turn is connected electrically to an electrically driven pump (plasma pumping means 29). In this manner, the rate at which plasma pump 29 operates can be controlled such that the pressure in plasma outlet conduit 23 never varies from that necessary to maintain optimum transmembrane pressures, regardless of the rate of ultrafiltration. Preferably the pressure in filtrate chamber 9b is kept at about atmospheric pressure at all times. The plasma filtrate can then be removed and stored for transfusion, subjected to diagnostic tests, or further fractionated to remove pathogenic substances therein and returned to the subject as either a part, or all of the replacement fluid.
A suitable replacement fluid can be pumped from a reserve thereof (not shown) via replacement fluid pumping means 31 and replacement fluid conduit 33 and is admixed with incoming blood in inlet conduit 1. The amount of replacement fluid added to the system corresponds substantially identically in volume to the amount of fluid being removed from the system by interconnecting pumping means 31 and pumping means 29 such that they operate at substantially the same rate. This can be conveniently accomplished by providing a common drive shaft for pumping means 31 and 29, for example.
Referring to FIG. 2, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described wherein ultrafiltration rates are increased by providing a recycled flow of plasma parallel to, and in the same direction as, the flow of the blood being ultrafiltered. The schematic drawing of the process of this embodiment employs like numbers to identify like components as described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 1. Thus, whole blood from the subject enters the system via inlet conduit 1, and blood inlet pumping means 3 and the pressure thereof is indicated by pressure sensing means 7 in the manner described above with relation to FIG. 1. The blood which is to be filtered enters ultrafiltration cell 9 and flows in a path parallel to ultrafiltering membrane 11 within filtering chamber 9a. The cellular component fraction of the blood leaves ultrafiltration cell 9 via conduit 13 and a portion thereof may be recycled as needed via recycle conduit 19 and recycle pumping means 21.
The plasma fraction of the blood enters filtrate chamber 9b through ultrafilter membrane 11 and leaves filtrate chamber 9b via conduit 23 at the same end of ultrafiltration cell 9 as the cellular component fraction exits via outlet conduit 13. A portion of the plasma leaves the system (or is returned as a replacement fluid as disclosed above with reference to FIG. 1) via conduit 23 and a portion thereof is recycled via plasma recycle conduit 35 and plasma recycle pumping means 37. Thus, a portion of the plasma filtrate is recycled into the inlet end of the ultrafiltration cell such that a plasma flow parallel to, and in the same direction as, the whole blood being separated in filtering chamber 9a, occurs within filtrate chamber 9b. By adjusting the operation rate of plasma recycle pumping means 37, the pressure drop across filtrate chamber 9b (that is the difference in pressure between where plasma is introduced into filtrate chamber 9b via plasma recycle conduit 35 and where the plasma is removed via plasma outlet 23) can be controlled. Thus without affecting the blood flow rate or the shear stress at the blood-membrane interface the transmembrane pressure can be adjusted by controlling the plasma recycle flow rate. The preferred mode of operation is to adjust the pressure drop across the filtrate chamber 9b to equal the pressure drop across the filtering chamber 9a of ultrafiltration cell 9 (that is the difference between the pressure of the blood flow as it enters filtering chamber 9a from inlet conduit 1 and the pressure at the outlet of filtering chamber 9a where the fluid enters outlet conduit 13); thereby the transmembrane pressure will be approximately constant over the entire membrane. Pressure indicating means 39 and pressure sensing means 25 (such as a pressure transducer) at the inlet and outlet, respectively, of the recycle flow loop of plasma through filtering chamber 9b can be employed to monitor the pressure drop therebetween and adjust it in the above described manner.
The pressure drops across the filtering and filtrate sides of the ultrafiltration membrane can be adjusted by providing automatic adjusting mechanisms or by manually adjusting the pressure. By adjusting the clamp 41 on conduit 13 the preferred mode of operation can be obtained by adjusting the pressure indicated by pressure indicating means 17 to be approximately one half of that of pressure indicating means 7, then, by use of plasma recycle pump 37, adjusting pressure indicating means 39 to equal the pressure indicated by pressure indicating means 17 and maintaining the pressure at pressure sensing means 25 at approximately atmospheric pressure.
The ultrafiltration cell useful in the process and apparatus of the subject invention can be any one of a number of physical realizations. To achieve the arrangement and conditions of the subject invention, the membrane (or membranes) needs to be placed with respect to the filtering chamber 9a and filtrate chamber 9b so as to provide the indicated flow rates, transverse pressures, and pressure differences across the membrane. The membranes themselves can be in the form of suitably supported flat sheets, rolled-up sheets, cylinders, concentric cylinders, ducts of various cross-section, and other configurations, assembled either singly or in groups, and connected in series and/or in parallel within the ultrafiltration cell 9 so as to provide the desired flow rates and pressures. The container and the spacing material must be constructed so that there is a continuous filtering and filtrate chamber running the length of the membrane.
A preferred type of cell for use in the present invention comprises generally rectangular plate members comprising flow plates, over which the blood and filtrate flow, separated by a rectangular plate member upon which a suitable ultrafiltering membrane has been mounted. The result is a generally rectangular shaped filtering chamber allowing for a flow of blood of from about 0.01 cm to about 0.1 cm in depth to flow across the ultrafilter membrane with a filtrate chamber of approximately the same dimensions on the opposite side of the membrane. By stacking a series of these sandwiched rectangular membrane ultrafiltering cells to form a composite ultrafiltration cell, flow rates can be increased or decreased as required by the particular situation. A preferred type of rectangular ultrafiltration plate type cell is sold by Beckman Instruments Inc., Anaheim, California, under the trade name Sartorius Ultrafiltration System. This ultrafiltration cell comprises plates which have a 0.7 mm wide V-shaped parallel running grooves allowing a liquid being passed therethrough to cover the filtering area completely. This particular cell can use up to fifteen separate ultrafiltering membranes providing a maximum effected filter area of 2550 cm2.
While many membranes were investigated in order to find a suitable membrane which will separate blood into cellular component and plasma fractions without substantial hemolysis or clogging problems and at a rate sufficient for the continuous operation of the system, membranes having a pore size of 0.45 microns and fabricated from cellulose nitrate or regenerated cellulose have been found to provide the necessary characteristics. Suitable membranes having these characteristics are marketed by Beckman Instruments Inc., Anaheim, California, under the trade name Sartorius Membranes.
The apparatus described in detail above can be operated in a continuous manner to separate blood into a cellular component fraction and a plasma fraction according to the following procedure. First, the instrument is filled with heparin or another suitable anticoagulant material in admixture with a saline solution. Heparin or some other suitable anticoagulant is also injected into the subject so as to prevent clogging of the system. For an adult human from about 2,000 units to about 20,000 units of heparin are employed for this purpose. Blood is then pumped from an artery or vein of the subject at a rate of from about 20 to about 400 ml/minute into the systems by blood inlet pumping means 3. As the blood goes through drip cell 5, pressure gauge 7 is used to monitor clot formation either by visual observation of the pressures indicated thereby or by means of an automatic system which will warn if pressures exceed an expected normal. After the blood has started through the membrane (or membranes if a multiple series of parallel plate membranes are being employed) recycle is started by starting recycle pumping means 21. For the Sartorius cell and membranes described above, recycle flow rates must be maintained in the range of from about 5 ml/minute/layer to about 40 ml/minute/layer in order to yield the high shear rates which are necessary to prevent damage occurring to the blood.
In a preferred embodiment, blood is returned to a vein after passing through a second drip chamber 15 which prevents air bubbles fom being entrained in the return blood. Plasma, separated from the cellular components in the blood is pumped out at exactly the same optimal rate at which it passes through the membranes by operating plasma pumping means 29 at rates such that the pressure in filtrate chamber 9b is essentially equal to atmospheric.
The following examples are submitted for the purpose of exemplifying the process and apparatus of the subject invention and are not to be construed to be limiting in any manner. Example 1 used a Dextran solution as the replacement fluid; similar experiments have been performed using plasma.
Employing an apparatus substantially the same as that depicted schematically in FIG. 1, a dog, weighing approximately 48 lbs., was used as an experimental subject for continuous plasmapheresis. The tubing employed was tygon, and plastic. The pumps employed were peristaltic-type pumps sold under the trade name of Sarns by Travernol and Masterflex and the ultrafiltration cell employed was the Sartorius type cell described above carrying fifteen ultrafiltering membranes having a pore size of 0.45 microns and manufactured from cellulose nitrate. The system was sterilized by formaldehyde and was flushed with a sterile saline solution prior to use. The dog was prepared for the experiment by injecting 5,500 units of heparin. The system was also flushed with heparin prior to start-up.
The dog's right femoral artery and vein were cannulated, the former providing the blood source and the later providing the return port. The blood inlet pump was then turned on, with the recycle pumping means being turned on shortly thereafter and the filtrate pumping means being turned on shortly after filtering began. The experiment was run for a total of 60 minutes during which time 1200 ml of replacement fluid (6% dextran in normal saline) was pumped into the dog and 1200 ml of plasma was separated from the dog's blood and collected. The pressures at the indicated points throughout the system at specified times during filtration are listed in Table I.
TABLE I______________________________________ Blood Venus Pressure Inlet Inlet Recycle Return FiltrateTime to Membrane Pump Pump Pressure Pump(min) (mm hg) (ml/min) (ml/min) (mm hg) (ml/min)______________________________________10 240 100 384 10-30 23.120 120 80 200 10-30 13.840 160 80 300 10-30 18.060 220 80 384 10-30 24.3______________________________________
In Table II the initial and final concentrations of various blood constituents are given.
TABLE II______________________________________Concentration of VariousBlood Constituents Initial Final______________________________________Red Blood Cell Count 5.9 � 106 ml-1 5.1 � 106 ml-1White Blood Cell Count 9.9 � 103 ml-1 3.5 � 103 ml-1Platelet Count 118,000 ml-1 74,000 ml-1IgG 6000 mg/dl 2920 mg/dlIgM 428 mg/dl 202 mg/dlAlbumin 2.6 gm/dl 1.0 gm/dlCholesterol 153 mg/dl 58 mg/dlPlasma Hemoglobin 66 mg/dl 75 mg/dl______________________________________
Employing an apparatus substantially the same as that depicted schematically in FIG. 2, expired blood from a blood bank was used in an experiment. The purpose of this experiment was to test the feasibility of using the recirculating plasma filtrate to increase the ultrafiltration rate without increasing the maximum transmembrane pressure. Two layers of cellulose nitrate membrane having a pore size of 0.45 microns were used in the Sartorius cell which had been mechanically altered to allow for parallel flow of the blood and filtrate. During this experiment the ultrafiltration rate was measured at three different transmembrane pressures for the case of recycled plasma filtrate and for the same maximum transmembrane pressures with no recycled filtrate. At all times during this experiment the plasma filtrate outlet pressure was atmospheric. The experiment's data is presented in Table III, showing the increased ultrafiltration rates obtained when recycled plasma filtrate is used.
TABLE III______________________________________Blood Blood Blood PlasmaInlet Blood Plasma Ultrafil- Inlet Outlet InletPump Recycle Recycle tration Pres- Pres- Pres-ml/ Pump Pump Rate sure sure suremin. ml/min. ml/min. ml/min. mmHg mmHg mmHg______________________________________132 48 0 .98 205 0 0132 48 44 2.0 410 200 205 88 0 0 .46 105 0 0 88 0 32 .80 205 103 105212 0 0 .85 290 0 0208 0 66 2.3 600 303 300______________________________________
Thus, in the first set of data set forth in Table III above when the maximum transmembrane pressure was 205 mmHg and no plasma recycle was employed the ultrafiltration rate was 0.98 ml/minute. However, when the pressure drop in the filtering chamber was maintained at about 210 mmHg (Blood Inlet Pressure minus Blood Outlet Pressure) and a plasma recyle was employed to obtain a pressure drop of 205 mmHg, the ultrafiltration rate increased to 2.0 ml/minute while flow rates remained constant.
While this invention has been described in relation to its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that various modifications thereof will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the specification and it is intended to cover such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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|"Plasma Fractionation in the United States", Ness et al, JAMA, vol. 230, No. 2, pp. 247-250 (Oct. 14, 1974).
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|Buckner et al., "Plasma Exchange with NCI-IBM Blood Cell Separator", Rev. Fr Etud Clin Biol vol. 14: 803-805, Oct. 1969.
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|Characterization of Possible Toxic Metabolites in Uremia and Hepatic Coma Based on the Clearance Spectrum for Larger Molecules by the ACA Microcapsule Artificial Kidney , Change et al., vol. XIX, Trans. Amer. Soc. Artif. Int. Organs, pp. 314 319 (1973).
|Clinical Experience with Intermittent Hemodiafiltration , Henderson et al., vol. XIX, Trans. Amer. Soc. Artif. Int. Organs, pp. 119 125 (1973).
|Graw, Jr. et al., "Plasma Exchange Transfusion for Hepatic Coma New Technique", Human Tumor Cell Bio. Br., Natl. Cancer Inst.; Jan.-Feb. 1970, Transfusion pp. 26-32.
|Graw, Jr. et al., Plasma Exchange Transfusion for Hepatic Coma New Technique , Human Tumor Cell Bio. Br., Natl. Cancer Inst.; Jan. Feb. 1970, Transfusion pp. 26 32.
|Initial Trials of Molecular Separation Artificial Kidney , Dorsen et al., vol. XIX, Trans. Amer. Soc. Artif. Int. Organs, pp. 119 125 (1973).
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|Plasma Fractionation in the United States , Ness et al, JAMA, vol. 230, No. 2, pp. 247 250 (Oct. 14, 1974).
|The Effects of Membrane Diffusion and Ultrafiltration Properties on Hemodialyzer Design and Performance , Popovich et al, Chemical Engineering Progress, vol. 67, No. 114, pp. 105 115 (1971).
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text:
WLAN: Analyzers and troubleshooting guide
There are also several desktop WLAN analyzers - for example, WildPackets AiroPeek, NAI SnifferWireless, Network...
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Instruments Observer, and the open source Ethereal. Desktop WLAN analyzers can monitor wireless traffic and filter captured packets against configurable alerts and thresholds. Desktop analyzers tend to have more processing power and storage than handheld analyzers, making them well-suited for routine WLAN monitoring, expert analysis, and trending over time. You might also want to consider wireless-aware IDS products ? for example, the AirDefense Intrusion Protection and Management appliance.
You can learn more about WLAN troubleshooting by visiting these vendor Web sites. Or check out the WLAN troubleshooting and tutorial Web sites run by EarthWeb, 802.11-Planet, Microsoft, and CommsDesign. You might also consider purchasing a book on this subject - for example, Jim Geier's "Implementing High Performance IEEE 802.11 Networks."
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Replacing Gail Goldberg: Activists Weigh In On A New Planning Director
Gail Goldberg, who hoped to bring high-density, transit-oriented development to Los Angeles but was accused of being too friendly to builders, has resigned as the city's top planner, leaving a key vacancy. The Weekly is reaching out to people all over the city to get their ideas about the type of person who should replace Goldberg, and what vision that person should bring to Los Angeles and its future. If you have your own ideas, Email us.
First up, Damien Newton, proprietor of Streetsblog LA, which advocates for smarter development that is friendlier to pedestrians, street-life and bikes.
Newton: Most Angelenos have lost faith that the city even has a plan. Whoever is going to take the lead at City Planning has to not only have the vision to create and support planning efforts at the neighborhood and community level, but also to tie those dozens of plans into a coherent vision for the city.
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text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Apr 13, 2010
|Filing date
|Apr 21, 2006
|Priority date
|Apr 21, 2005
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Irene Grigoriadis, Victor A. Ramirez
|Original Assignee
|Omegablue, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (25), Non-Patent Citations (5), Referenced by (7), Classifications (7), Legal Events (5)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The present Application for Patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/674,157, entitled "Automatic Authoring and Publishing System", filed Apr. 21, 2005, assigned to the assignee hereof, and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to authoring and publishing software tools. More particularly, at least one embodiment provides an assisted authoring and publishing software tool that guides users in authoring and publishing manuals with structured templates having defined content areas, data pools of permissible content, structured data storage, and synthetic text generation.
During a production process of aircraft and other products, alterations or modifications to the aircraft product must be reflected in the corresponding technical, maintenance, and/or end-user documentation or manuals. For instance, as the audio/video system in a commercial aircraft is upgraded or changed the corresponding manuals have to be modified according to industry rules or regulations. Since an aircraft fleet may include aircraft having different combinations of systems or upgrades, different sets of manuals or instructions are often needed to support all aircraft in the fleet. Maintaining and generating the various document revisions leads to a tedious, time consuming, and potentially error-prone process.
Existing documentation techniques typically employ intricate versioning schemes, esoteric document "languages" and large amounts of storage to hold all the different permutations of the documentation. U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,956 discloses a process in which documents are manually altered or revised, while older document versions are added to an ever growing database of complete documents before finally assembling the final document. The older document versions are maintained with all associated graphics, text and diagrams related to each document. However, with this approach, the size of the database eventually becomes very large and, consequently, processing of the documents slows down. U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,956 also relies on manual, unassisted editing of existing documents that typically requires specialized knowledge of the subject matter by the author, editor and others reviewing the document. That is, the person editing such documents would need to have specific knowledge about the product and the product's history to be able to ascertain whether the associated graphics, text and diagrams in the documentation are correct. A quality assurance reviewer or editor familiar with the technology, steps, or processes described in the documentation would need to review the final document for reliability. An author or reviewer may be required to re-learn an entire area of knowledge to update older documents. In complex technical systems, the possibilities for errors are proportional to the amount of knowledge required by the authors and reviewers. The potential for error may result in safety violations or other dangerous situations. Further, the author-reviewer-rewrite cycle is time consuming and inefficient.
United States Patent Publication 2005/0022118 describes using a template where all the required elements that form the output must be maintained in exactly the same location otherwise the template is unable to recreate the document accurately. This technique is rigid, inflexible, and in most cases requires the author to make the template out of a document description language as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,956. This requires the author to have extra knowledge about the structural requirements of the book/manual and how the selected templates may affect the final output. For example, in the airline industry the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) require documentation to meet specific standards. Authors constantly review the formatting requirements to comply with changing governmental regulations. Further, U.S. Patent Publication 2005/0022118 only allows the structure of the book to be shown, and does not preview the final product for the author to see the effect of any changes. Thus, the author has to wait until the content is published and then make alterations in a repetitive cycle until the document is satisfactory. Any changes made during the review process starts the cycle over again wasting time and delaying production of the documentation required.
Thus, for the reasons discussed above, prior art document production and storage techniques are inadequate to generate, structure, and store multiple altered versions of a document. Furthermore, the ability to check and track changes made is slow and cumbersome due to the number of document comparisons that must be made. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that assist and guide authors in creating highly structured documents that are automatically assembled, formatted, and reproduced to accurately reflect all the elements of the system with minimal knowledge required of the author. A further need exists for a system and method for updating and maintaining such documents to reflect the specific elements actually used in the project.
One embodiment of the present invention assists users in automatically generating content and publishing technical manuals for large-scale, complex products and services for building, maintaining, servicing, and/or retrofitting aircraft.
One feature provides a guided or structured software environment that assists users in creating manuals by defining the appropriate data structures and content for each manual section, content rules and relationships, and tasks to be performed for each type of manual entry. Predefined templates and data structures are used to facilitate the creation of data elements and compile a final manual.
Another feature provides for storing the manual content as structured data elements, rather than as sentences or paragraphs, to more efficiently generate, revise, and store the content of a manual. That is, rather than storing content as complete pages of text (e.g., sentences, paragraphs), tables, and/or graphics, the present invention stores the content as distinct data elements in a database. This also allows different manuals to be compiled using some of the same data elements, thereby saving storage space. Moreover, this approach to storage of content permits a single data element to be modified to propagate that modification to all other manuals referencing that data element.
Yet another novel feature provides an instant preview mode that permits an author to quickly view what revisions will look like in a final document prior to actually publishing the manual. A publishing engine publishes the manual by assembling the stored data elements and compiling them into a single document.
A compiled document may be converted into an XML document and forwarded to an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) where it is output in a user selected format. While several of the examples described herein relate to aircraft service or maintenance manuals, it should be understood that the various features of the present invention may be implemented in a wide array of document creation processes for various purposes, products, and/or systems besides aircraft.
One implementation of the invention provides a method for authoring and publishing a document. A document template is defined based on a plurality of predefined data elements arranged in a tree-like data structure. One or more of the predefined data elements are edited using content-specific pull-down menus. The revised data elements are stored in a relational database to store a customized document. Text is automatically synthesized from the revised data elements by compiling the revised data elements according to the structure defined by the document template to generate the customized document. An effectivity in the customized document may be tracked to track one of the predefined data element or revised data element across multiple other documents. The plurality of predefined data elements may be selected from the group consisting of text, quantity, descriptions, procedures and graphical metadata. The step of editing one or more of the predefined data elements may include performing tasks pre-associated with the predefined data elements. One of the predefined data elements or revised data elements may be cross-referenced to one or more other documents. The content-specific pull-down menus may be dynamically generated based on a defined content type of the document template. The customized document may be previewed prior to publishing. The customized document may be published by performs the steps of: (1) converting the customized document into an extensible markup language document; (2) forwarding the extensible markup language document to an extensible stylesheet transform; and (3) outputting the extensible markup language document from the extensible stylesheet transform as a published document. A internet-based change request may be received to effect a change to the published document. This method may also be implemented on hardware, software, or a combination thereof.
Methods and devices that implement the embodiments of the various features of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements. In addition, the first digit of each reference number indicates the figure where the element first appears. The following description is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor, but does not limit the variations available.
In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe certain features of one or more embodiments of the invention. The term "document" refers to any form or display that is readable including manuals, manuscripts, web pages, Adobe PDF documents or other form capable of being read. The term "storage device" refers to any device capable of storing information, including hard drives, dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The term "data element" refers to any quantum of data packaged as a single item. The term "data unit" refers to a collection of data elements and/or data units that comprise a logical section. The term "storage database" includes any mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The term "effectivity" denotes a method where a function or a component is applied to a specific document and propagated to all other documents that contain the function or the component. The term "storage medium" may represent one or more devices for storing data, including read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/or other machine readable mediums for storing information. The term "machine readable medium" includes, but is not limited to portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.
Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a process that is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination corresponds to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.
Various embodiments provide a system, method and device for an automatic authoring and publishing system. One embodiment of the present invention assists users in automatically generating content and publishing technical manuals for large-scale, complex products and services for building, maintaining, servicing, and/or retrofitting aircraft.
One feature provides a guided or structured software environment that assists users in creating manuals by defining the appropriate data structures and content for each manual section, content rules and relationships, and tasks to be performed for each type of manual entry. Predefined templates and data structures are used to facilitate the creation of data elements and compile a final manual.
Another feature provides for storing the manual content as structured data elements, rather than as sentences or paragraphs, to more efficiently generate, revise, and store the content of a manual. That is, rather than storing content as complete pages of text (e.g., sentences, paragraphs), tables, and/or graphics, the present invention stores the content as distinct data elements in a database. This also allows different manuals to be compiled using some of the same data elements, thereby saving storage space. Moreover, this approach to storage of content permits a single data element to be modified to propagate that modification to all other manuals referencing that data element.
Yet another novel feature provides an instant preview mode that permits an author to quickly view what revisions will look like in a final document prior to actually publishing the manual. A publishing engine publishes the manual by assembling the stored data elements and compiling them into a single document.
A compiled document may be converted into an XML document and forwarded to an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT) where it is output in a user selected format. While several of the examples described herein relate to aircraft service or maintenance manuals, it should be understood that the various features of the present invention may be implemented in a wide array of document creation processes for various purposes, products, and/or systems besides aircraft.
The document manager input interface 102 may include a template manager 103, document builder 104, a paragraph editor 106, data pools manager 107, effectivity interface 109, and an automatic text generator 108.
104 enables a user to graphically build a template defining specific aircraft models/types to which it applies and a parts library and relevant section(s) of the manual. The template manager 104 allows a user to manage defined data structures, create templates, and manage task-oriented function codes. The data structures may be defined by the user or a regulatory body, such as the Air Transport Association (ATA), for aircraft systems. In this example a data structure may be identified by a 6-digit number (defined by the ATA and/or aircraft manufacturer) in the form of XX-YY-ZZ (e.g., Chapter-Section-Subject) that permits standardization of manual components across an industry. The Air Transport Association (ATA) regulates and has clearly defined the first three digits of the 6-digit ATA solution in iSpec2200. The last three digits are regulated by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (e.g., aircraft manufacturer). The template manager 103 may load a set of default data structures that the user may customize or the user may create new structures to use on a manual.
The builder module 104 allows a user to create a new book (manual) from one or more defined templates and/or create a revised book based on a previous version of the book (manual).
Having defined a particular template or previous revision of a book, the user may select and edit one or more parts and sections from a plurality of manual parts and their corresponding sections. For example,
As previously noted, a manual template may further define the type of content for the manual. For instance, one or more tasks for each defined manual section may be defined from a predefined set of tasks provided by the document manager input interface 102. The selected manual sections and tasks may be organized as tree-like data structures data that are identified with the defined template. The tasks may define the general steps needed to accomplish the goal of a particular manual section. For example,
Once a document template has been defined, it can be stored in a database that permits an author to then fill-in the document template according to data structure, rules, and conditions imposed by the template. Once the document has been filled by an author and validated, it can then become part of a new manual revision.
The document editor module 106 allows an author to finalize the content of a document template to generate a manual or part of a manual. The document editor module 106 allows a user to add, delete, and modify the content and structure of a selected book (manual). The document editor module 106 may include a dynamically generated menu system based on the content structure, rules, and/or conditions specified in the document template being used. Such menu system may be selected based on a book type, book number, and section of the book. That is, the document editor module 106 retrieves the data structure, rules, and conditions defined by the document template (for the book type, book number, and section) and generates one or more menus that guide the author and facilitates generating the manual's contents (e.g., removal, maintenance, installation, instructions or steps). For example,
From the document editor module 106, an author may select a task to edit and/or revise. For example,
As illustrated in
One aspect of the invention introduces the concept of "effectivity" in which particular components or tasks are associated with one or more types of aircraft and this association is propagated to documents cross referenced or hyperlinked to the particular tasks or system components. An effectivity interface 109 may be provided to enable a user to establish effectivity associations or relationships. Once associated, the particular task or system component is propagated to all other related documents that contain the same types of aircraft. The concept of effectivity guarantees the propagation of application-specific or model specific information throughout a manual so that all applications or models covered by a particular manual are accurately supported. For example, if bolts used in affixing an overhead compartment to the fuselage of an aircraft are replaced by an improved fastener, the data element representing the bolt is replaced with a new individual element representing the new fastener. The system propagates the effectivity of this change to the documents that contain the bolt and automatically updates the documents. The notion of an aircraft range may be used to gather aircrafts sharing the same properties and associate them with data structures or elements corresponding to said properties. These ranges may be defined in accordance with the customers (airlines). Overlaps in effectivity statements are not allowed for variant data structures or elements. Thus, one or more data structures or elements are associated with a particular aircraft or aircraft type. This effectivity can be used to make sure that all associated elements for a particular aircraft have been included in a particular manual.
In one embodiment, the document manager input interface 102 may also incorporate an automatic text generator 108 that allows the deconstruction of the syntax of textual data elements from the tree-like data structure of a document template. The textual data elements are syntactically joined with the appropriate linguistic rules prior to outputting a document or manual. The automatic text generator 108 can generate one or more manual tasks, such as assembly instructions, disassembly instructions, test procedures, cleaning procedures, repair procedures, inspection procedures, operation procedures, or other required text, within the automatic text generator's 108 lexical capabilities. One implementation of the automatic text generator 108 is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/887,162 a System and Method for Generating Text by Grigoriadis et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The user specifies a category to place the business rule and defines a task for the category. The business rule can then be applied to a chapter, a section or a subject of the current document. For example, if an aircraft is to be manufactured for a specific airline and the audio system is the same across the ordered models; the user would create a business rule to reflect the audio system and place it in the sound system category and assign the task of installation to the rule. The business rule would be applied to the documents related to specific airline. The document manager input interface 102 interacts with the user to select options and allows the user to select a document template to construct a document, create an entirely new document, edit an existing document, or automatically generate a document.
Another feature provides data pools manager 107 that allows a user to manage standard data structure types. The data pools manager 107 allows a user to add, delete, and/or modify data that is standard in particular data structures, thus customizing them for particular applications.
The storage database 110 is a repository for document data elements that can include text, graphics, illustrations and other items that can be reused in other documents or are unique to specific documents. In another embodiment, the data elements comprise diagrams, procedures for operation, maintenance, and cleaning of the unit or a list of tools required to perform a task. In yet another embodiment, the data elements comprise price, quantity, availability and reordering data.
A publishing engine 112 is also provided comprising an intermediate extensible markup language (XML) generator 114, an extensible language stylesheet transform (XLST) application 116, and the final document output format 118. In one embodiment, the publishing engine 112 uses XML 114 as an intermediate step prior to publishing. The user selects an XSLT 108 from the document manager input interface 102 to transform the intermediate XML file into the desired final output format 118. In another embodiment, the final output format 118 is based on the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). SGML is an ISO standard: ISO 8879:1986 information processing language. SGML allows the writer to be focused on the structural aspects of a document and leave the visual presentation of that structure to the publishing engine 112. In other embodiments the document output can be in any format, for example, such as HTML, PDF or plain text.
One feature provides a revision history of data elements 821-834 and/or output documents 804 and 805 so that prior versions of the output documents 804-805 can be reproduced. In another embodiment, data elements 821-834 contain security levels that restrict user access to modify the data elements 821-834.
In some embodiments, a document editor is configured to place a data element 821-834 in a tree-like structure. The user can modify the tree-like structure, add content to the elements in the tree-like structure, and/or display a preview of a modification to the tree-like structure. For example, a user can move a document data element 821-834 from an existing tree-like structure to another tree-like structure (i.e. cut and paste the document data element 821-834), or copy a part or the entire tree-like structure into a new or existing document. User modifications to the tree-like structure operations need not affect the document data elements 821-834, only the structure or relationship of the document data elements within the tree-like structures. In one embodiment, the document data elements 821-834 are selected from the group consisting of one or more text, quantity, descriptions, procedures and graphical metadata.
In one embodiment, the publishing engine for producing output from the system is configured to gather document data elements 821-834 and place them in a predetermined form according, for example, to a document template. The publishing engine may add images to the predetermined form, for example, a maintenance troubleshooting flowchart.
Another embodiment provides an apparatus comprising a machine readable medium containing instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to perform operations of loading a predefined document template. Parts of the predefined document template can then be selected or excluded from the document. Individual document elements are retrieved from a storage database. Individual document elements are inserted into the predefined document template. Text is automatically generated and inserted into the predefined document template. The predefined document template and the individual document elements are stored together as a new document in the storage database. An output format for the new document is selected. The new document is then encoded as an extensible markup language file. The extensible markup language file is converted to the output format selected by the user using an extensible stylesheet language transform. The new document is then published in the output format selected.
What has been described is a new and improved system and method for automatically authoring and publication of documents overcoming the limitations and disadvantages inherent in the related art. Although the present invention has been described with a degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example. For example, the present invention is not limited to aircraft manuals but may be implemented with any other products (e.g., cars, boats, electronics, etc.) where manual are needed. Since various changes could be made in the above description without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be illustrative and not used in a limiting sense.
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|U.S. Classification
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|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|May 3, 2006
Owner name: OMEGA BLUE, INC., CALIFORNIA
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Chapter Two Barrymore Recommended!
"As Jennie, (Anna Marie) Sell delivers one of the finest, most emotionally rich performances I've seen this season." - Jim Rutter, Philadelphia Inquirer
Montgomery Theater, June 16-July 10. For the show schedule & reservations, please click here.
photo by Angela McMichael
pictured with Matt Tallman, as George
Reaching for the Moon... Songs of Irving Berlin
Encore Engagement with Kaye Allyn.
April 15, Cafe Noctambulo at Pangea
Kaye Allyn, vocals
Frank Ponzio, piano
Hayes Greenfield, sax
Christian Fabian, bass
Sam Kinsey, tenor
Larry Long, baritone
Peccadillo Theater Company Reading Series
March 21, 7:30pm, at the National Arts Club
Playing the sweet and determined Mary Greenhill in this staged reading of a frighteningly timely work by Sinclair Lewis & J.C. Moffitt.
Tomi Jazz - Saturday, April 2
"Jazz Standards & Rarities"
2 sets: 8-9pm, 9:30-10:30pm
with Kathryn Allyn, Vocals; Frank Ponzio, Piano; Tom Hubbard, Bass
A Wilder Christmas
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Played sensitive mother Leonora in "The Long Christmas Dinner" and confronted questions of the afterlife as Harriet in "Pullman Car Hiawatha."
Critically Acclaimed Performances led to a one-week extension of the run!
Photographs, Carol Rosegg
Costumes, Marianne Custer
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Calling our current financial regulatory regime "more an accident than anything else," Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) appeared on Dylan Ratigan's Morning Meeting to discuss the sweeping reform bill he unveiled yesterday.
Dodd's bill has been called far more aggressive than the financial reform bill being weighed in the House of Representatives. Under the proposed measure, the Federal Reserve would be stripped of much of its power and in its place will be a new regulatory council to oversee systemic risks to the economy. The bill, Ratigan said, has several promising components, including crackdowns on derivatives, increasing capital requirements for banks and a clause that would allow the government to clawback pay from execs at publicly traded companies.
Here's Dodd:
"We have an architecture of federal regulatory structure -- some of it dates to the 19th century... It's just so outdated. It's a hodgepodge. It's an accident more than anything else... If there's any silver lining in the last several years of this very dark cloud in our economy it is that I think we got a chance to do what you very effectively described as [something], bold."
Ratigan called the bill "better than expected," but added that the bill does not address the $18-billion-profit market in foreign currency swaps, which makes up to 40 percent of banks' derivatives income, according to research by Huffington Post's Shahien Nasiripour.
What does Dodd say to the financial services lobby, which is, of course, opposing the bill? "My argument to them," Dodd said, "is that what we're doing is in your interest. Having clarity and transparency -- your customers need this. You need this as well... In their heart of hearts, they realize what I'm talking about here makes sense."
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
More:Chris Dodd Dodd Bill Dylan Ratigan
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Lives in North Eastern Kansas, KS, United States
Works as a Part Time Author/Photographer
Has a website at www.nikkorglass.com
Joined on Mar 23, 2011
About me:
Relax and have fun! That's my motto for photographers!
I have a wonderful family and full time job and on the side I am very much part-time author and non working photographer.
I used to do light semi-pro work, independent film stills, weddings, amateur models and some stock work. Those would be the highlights as I stopped working professionally after a few years and now I just shoot for fun!
I believe photography is both an art and technical mastery to capture all the multitudes of possibilities life can bestow to the eyes. While I enjoy gear, some tech talk and knowing more to help make better pictures, I am at my best when the gear disappears in my hands, the scene creates passion and the minds eye is left to capture photos!
DPReview Vetran since 2002 - had to change profiles a few times due to email address changes - http://www.dpreview.com/members/2422572545/forums/recent
Former DSLRs - Fuji's S2,S3, S5 \ Nikon's D2X, D70, D200, D700, D7100, D7200, Canon 5D
Current Cameras - Nikon D810, D500, Df & Fuji S3 & S5
Favorites can be found at 500PX - HTTPS://500px.com/am4l
Checkout my latest website Nikkorglass.com dedicated to Nikon Glass with focus on MF Lenses, its add free! We embrace MFNas at NikkorGlass!
You can find my book "The Awareness Journey at http://AM4L.com, it will forever change how you see your life and open your eyes to a new way of thinking!
I am an Avid/Rabid Collector of Nikkor MF Lenses = 58
Nikon MF Prime Ai/Ai-s Collection (27 Keepers)
Nikon MF Prime non Ai Collection (24 Keepers)
Nikon MF Zoom Ai/Ai-s Collection (8 Keepers)
Wishlist MF:
Non Nikon MF Lenses (4 Keepers)
AF Glass - I keep it simple with some quality glass
AF Lenses: (6)
|Total: 1, showing: 1 – 1
- Canon EOS M58.8%
- Panasonic G85/G803.3%
- Panasonic FZ2500/FZ20001.9%
- Panasonic LX10/LX151.2%
- Panasonic GH5 development3.6%
- Sony a99 II15.9%
- Nikon KeyMission 170 and 801.0%
- Fujifilm GFX 50S development28.3%
- Olympus E-M1 II development18.7%
- Olympus E-PL80.1%
- Olympus 25mm F1.2 Pro1.5%
- Olympus 12-100mm F4 IS Pro1.9%
- Olympus 30mm F3.5 Macro0.1%
- Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art3.6%
- Sigma 12-24mm F4 Art2.6%
- Sigma 500mm F4 DG OS HSM Sport2.4%
- GoPro Hero50.8%
- GoPro Karma drone2.2%
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