public I_InputPattern processPatternFile(String path)
    {
	InputPattern pattern = null;
	
	//Firstly try to create the file
	File file = new File(path);

	//if the file exists
	if(file.exists())
	{
	    // Variables used to store the line of the being read
	    // using the input stream, and an array list to store the input
	    // patterns into.
	    String line = "";

	    // Read the file and display it line by line. 
	    BufferedReader in = null;

	    try
	    {
		//open stream to file
		in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));

		try
		{   
		    while ((line = in.readLine()) != null)
		    {

			//Declare input pattern to store data
			pattern = new InputPattern();

			pattern.setName(path);

			double[] patternData = StringOps.splitStringToDouble(line," ");
			pattern.setData(patternData);
		    }
		}
		catch(IOException e){return null;}
		finally{in.close();}
	    }
	    catch (FileNotFoundException e) { return null; }
	    catch (IOException e) { return null; }
	}
	else{ return null; }
	
	return pattern;
    }