Patent Publication Number: US-2022211136-A1

Title: Method and apparatus for head protection and providing air flow

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This patent application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/556,870 (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,278,077), filed Aug. 30, 2019, and claims priority to and claims benefit from United States Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/726,148, filed on Aug. 31, 2018. The above identified application is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates to providing protection to a head of a user, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for head protection and providing air flow. 
     Limitations and disadvantages of conventional systems for providing head protections and air to an interior of a protection device worn by a user, such as, for example, powered air purifying respirators, will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with some aspects of the present method and system set forth in the remainder of this disclosure with reference to the drawings. 
     SUMMARY 
     Methods and systems are provided for a method and apparatus for head protection and providing air flow, substantially as illustrated by and described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of some example embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a drawing of an example head protection device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a drawing of an example head protection device with multiple shields where the outer face shield is raised in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a drawing of an example head protection device with multiple shields where both the outer face shield and the inner face shield are raised in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a close-up view of an example interior near a lower chin portion in an example head protection device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a view of example pivot points of an example head protection device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a close-up view of an example hard hat adapter used with an example head protection device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a drawing of an example hard hat adapter in accordance with a aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a partially exploded view of an example hard hat adapter in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 9  is a drawing of an example configuration of a head protection device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 10  shows a block diagram of an example control circuitry in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     The drawings are not necessarily to scale. Where appropriate, similar or identical reference numbers are used to identify similar or identical elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Head protection devices used for various purposes may also provide air flow during use. The air flow may be used to, for example, cool the user during welding, grinding, etc. While there may be head protection devices such as, for example, helmets that may be used for a specific activity such as welding, it may be useful to have a head protection device that can be used for multiple purposes such as welding, grinding, cutting, etc. However, if the user is wearing a multi-purpose protection device, then it would be beneficial to allow the protection device to have weight and balance that is comfortable for the user, as well as allowing the user to access their face without removing the protection device. 
     A head protection device that provides air flow may be referred to as a PAPR (powered air-purifying respirator) helmet. With conventional PAPR welding helmets, the user would need to take the helmet off in order to, for example, communicate, eat, drink, etc. 
     Disclosed PAPR helmets allow the user (wearer) easy access to their face without having to remove the entire helmet. The PAPR helmet may be, for example, a hard hat PAPR helmet in which the PAPR components are attached or affixed to a conventional hard hat. 
       FIG. 1  is a drawing of an example head protection device  100 . Referring to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a head protection device  100  that comprises a blower shell  102  and shield  104 . The shield  104  may comprise a single shield or multiple shields for different use cases. The example shield  104  is rotatable so that the user can raise the shield  104  away from the face without removing the head protection device  100 . 
     Therefore, by rotating the shield  104 , some example head protection devices allow the user to have access to his face while keeping the blower shell  102  of the head protection device  100  stationary. This is shown in more detail in  FIG. 3 . The blower shell  102  may comprise a blower vent  402  and a head seal  404  ( FIG. 4 ). Accordingly, the operator may have access to their face by lifting the shield  104  while keeping the head seal  404  in place. 
     Additionally, while the example head protection device  100  shows the shield  104  vertically above the blower shell  102 , other examples of the disclosure may have at least a portion of the shield  104  overlap the blower shell  102 , or have at least a portion of the shield  104  below the blower shell  102  when the shield  104  is in a down position. 
     In the example of  FIG. 2 , the shield  104  the shield includes an outer face shield  104 A and an inner face shield  104 B. Accordingly, as described above, at least a portion of one or both of the outer face shield  104 A and inner face shield  104 B may be vertically below the blower shell  102 . The outer face shield  104 A may be, for example, a welding shield, and the inner face shield  104 B may be, for example, a grinding shield, a cutting shield, etc. The outer face shield  104 A includes a darkening lens or auto-darkening filter (ADF) to protect the user&#39;s vision from the brightness of the welding arc. The inner face shield  104 B includes a lens or other shield that has little or no darkening to enable the user to see in lower-light environments. 
     The head protection device  100  may be used in three different modes of operation: weld mode ( FIG. 1 ), grind mode ( FIG. 2 ), and open face mode ( FIG. 3 ). Accordingly, the weld mode may be a first mode where the outer face shield  104 A is lowered and the inner face shield  104 B is lowered. The grind mode may be a second mode where the outer face shield  104 A is raised and the inner face shield  104 B is lowered. The open face mode may be a third mode in which the outer face shield  104 A is raised and the inner face shield  104 B is raised so that the user will have access to the user&#39;s face, and will be able to view a workpiece that is being worked on. 
     The blower vent  402  may be connected to an air manifold  508  ( FIG. 5 ) that may provide air from an external device (PAPR  904  in  FIG. 9 ). The air flow provided by the PAPR  904  is described in more detail with regard to  FIG. 9 . 
       FIG. 2  is a drawing of an example head protection device  100  with multiple shields where the outer face shield is raised. Referring to  FIG. 2 , there is shown the head protection device  100  that comprises multiple shields  104 A and  104 B. The outer face shield  104 A may be, for example, a welding shield and the inner face shield  104 B may be, for example, a grinding shield  104 B. When the additional protection of the outer face shield  104 A is not needed for non-welding purposes, the outer face shield  104 A may be rotated out of the way to allow better vision for grinding, cutting, drilling, sanding, etc. 
       FIG. 3  is a drawing of an example head protection device  100  with multiple shields where both the outer face shield and the inner face shield are raised. Referring to  FIG. 3 , there is shown the head protection device  100  where the shield  104 , which may comprise multiple shields  104 A and  104 B, is raised to expose the face. The outer face shield  104 A may be, for example, a welding shield and the inner face shield  104 B may be, for example, a grinding shield. When protection is not needed for the user, for example, when the user is taking a break for a snack or a drink, inspecting a work piece, etc., the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B may be rotated out of the way. 
     Accordingly, with the shield  104  raised, it can be seen that the head protection device  100  also comprises a hard hat  302  and a hard hat adapter  304  that allows a protection shell  300  to be mounted to the hard hat  302 . The protection shell  300  may comprise, for example, the blower shell  102  and the shield  104 . The blower shell  102  can be used for PAPR functionality where air can be provided for the user. As the blower shell  102  does not move when either of the outer face shield  104 A or the inner face shield  104 B is moved, air is provided to the user at a substantially constant location. In some embodiments, different air speeds may be provided when the shield  104 A or  104 B is raised or lowered. This will be discussed in more detail with respect to  FIG. 9 . 
     Some examples of the head protection device  100  may be a constructed unit that is manufactured with the protection shell  300 , the hard hat  302 , and the hard hat adapter  304 . In other examples, a protection shell  300  may be fitted on to a hard hat  302  with an appropriate hard hat adapter  304  by, for example, selecting the appropriate parts. Accordingly, various embodiments of the disclosure may provide the head protection device  100  as a unit or pieces that are assembled as the head protection device  100  from individual parts (blower shell  102 , shield  104 , hard hat  302 , and hard hat adapter  304 , where one or more of these parts may have accessories associated with them) to allow for customization according to a user&#39;s preference. 
       FIG. 4  is a close-up view of an example interior near a lower chin portion in an example head protection device  100 . Referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown the head protection device  100  with an example placement of the blower vents  402  and the head seal  404 . As can be seen, the blower vents  402  and the head seal  404  are not affected by whether the shield  104  is raised or lowered. Accordingly, the head seal  404  may remain in place while the shield  104  is moved. Furthermore, although two blower vents  402  are shown, other example head protection devices may have a different number of blower vents  402 , whether one blower vent  402  or three or more blower vents  402 . 
       FIG. 5  is a view of example pivot points of an example head protection device  100 . Referring to  FIG. 5 , there is shown the head protection device  100  with first and second pivot points  502  and  504  for the outer and inner face shields  104 A and  104 B, respectively. An embodiment of the disclosure may have the first pivot point  502  for the outer face shield  104 A that is different than the second pivot point  504  for the inner face shield  104 B. The pivot points  502 ,  504  provide improved balance and placement of the center of gravity for the head protection device  100  whether the shield  104  is raised or lowered. For example, the placement of the second pivot point  504  may be to optimize the clearance of the inner face shield  104 B over the hard hat  302  when the inner face shield  104 B is raised to keep the center of gravity low for the head protection device  100 . The optimization may be due to, for example, reducing the clearance of the inner face shield  104 B over the hard hat  302  when the inner face shield  104 B is raised. 
     Furthermore, with respect to the center point  506  of the hard hat  302 , the second pivot point  504  can be seen to be below and behind the center point  506 , which is also below and behind the first pivot point. Since the center point  506  is at the bottom of the hard hat  302 , and at the center of the hard hat  302  in the front to back direction, the second pivot point  504  for the inner face shield located below and behind the center point  506  allows a low center of gravity when the outer face shield  104 A and inner face shield  104 B are raised. 
     There is also an air manifold  508  connected to the blower vents  402 . The air manifold  508  may be used to deliver air from, for example, a PAPR  904  shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     As can be seen in  FIG. 5 , the term “below” refers to a downward, vertical direction and the term “behind” refers to a rear-ward, horizontal direction with respect to the head protection device (away from the shields  104 ). 
       FIG. 6  is a close-up view of an example hard hat adapter  304  used with an example head protection device  100 . Referring to  FIG. 6 , there is shown the hard hat adapter  304  comprising an upper arm  602 , a clip  604 , and a lower arm  606 . The upper arm  602  may be used to removably couple the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B to the hard hat adapter  304 . The clip  604  may be used to removably couple the hard hat adapter  304  to the hard hat  302 . The lower arm  606  may be used to removably couple the blower shell  102  to the hard hat adapter  304 . 
     The outer face shield  104 A may rotate about the first pivot point  502 , and the inner face shield  104 B may rotate about the second pivot point  504 . When the inner face shield  104 B rotates, the upper arm  602  rotates with the inner face shield  104 B about the second pivot point  504 . When both the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B are rotated together about the second pivot point  504 , then the upper arm  602  also rotates about the second pivot point  504 . 
     When the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B are lowered, the outer face shield  104 A may be raised without raising the inner face shield  104 B. The outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B may also be raised together. When the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B are raised, the inner face shield  104 B may be lowered without lowering the outer face shield  104 A. The outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B may also be lowered together. 
     While  FIG. 6  shows the head protection device  100  comprising several pieces removably coupled together, various embodiments of the disclosure may have the head protection device  100  manufactured such that some parts may not be removable or replaceable. Accordingly, customization of a head protection device  100  may range from being able to select each individual part to couple to the hard hat adapter  304  to form the head protection device  100  to selecting the head protection device  100  as a single unit. 
       FIG. 7  is a drawing of an example hard hat adapter in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 7 , there is shown the hard hat adapter  700  that is similar to the hard hat adapter  304 . The hard hat adapter comprises a clip  702 , an upper arm  704 , and a lower arm  706  as described previously. 
       FIG. 8  is a partially exploded view of an example hard hat adapter  100 . Referring to  FIG. 8 , there is shown an embodiment of the hard hat adapter  700  where the upper arm  704  comprises an arm washer  804 , a nut  806 , and a bolt  808 . In this embodiment, the arm washer  804  may be mechanically secured to the upper arm  704  via the securing pins  802  being inserted into corresponding holes  802 A in the arm washer  804 . This may prevent the nut  806  from backing off as a result of repeated raising and lowing of the inner face shield  104 B. Various embodiments may not have the securing pins  802 , or may use other methods to keep the nut  806  from backing off. For example, there may be dual nuts  806 , there may be a retaining pin (not shown) inserted in a hole (not shown) in the bolt  808 , etc. The retaining pin may be, for example, a cotter pin, a hair pin clip, etc. 
       FIG. 9  is a drawing of an example configuration of a head protection device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 9 , there is shown a head protection device  900 , a conduit  902 , and a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR)  904 . The head protection device  900  may have coupled to it control circuitry  910  and a light source  912 . There may also be a power source  914 , which may be, for example, a battery, or power circuitry that receives power from outside the head protection device  900 . The power may be received via electrical conductors or wirelessly. The power may be used for the control circuitry  910  as well as for the light  912 . The control circuitry  910  and the light source  912  may be located in any suitable place on the head protection device  900 . For example, the control circuitry  910  may be located on one side of the blower shell  102 , and the light source  912  may be located on the other side of the blower shell  102 . As another example, the light source  912  and the control circuitry  910  may be on the same side of the blower shell  102 . 
     In various embodiments, the light source  912  may be removably coupled to the head protection device  100 . For example, the light source  912  may be clipped on to the blower shell  102 , fastened using a hook-and-loop fastener, placed in a holder, etc. Other embodiments may have the light source  912  built into, for example, the blower shell  102 . 
     The light source  912  may be configured to, for example, turn on when the outer face shield  104 A is raised and turn off when the outer face shield  104 A is lowered. The light source  912  may also be configured to, for example, emit different colored light based on whether the outer face shield  104 A is raised or lowered, whether the inner face shield  104 B is raised or lowered, etc. The light source  912  may comprise one or more light sources that can be pointed to a specific area in front of the head protection device  900 . 
     The control circuitry  910  may be used to control turning on and off the light source  912 , and/or changing the color of the light emitted by the light source  912 . The control circuitry  910  may also be used to set-up the automatic turning on/off the light of the light source  912 , as well as determining when the light emitted by the light source  912  changes colors. 
     The raising and lowering of the outer face shield  104 A and/or the inner face shield  104 B may be determined by a sensor such as, for example, a switch. Other types of sensors may also be used from any of the various types of sensors available for detecting movement. For example, raising or lowering a shield may interrupt a light beam that is detected by a light sensor. The control circuitry  910  may comprise input and output devices, as well as a processor and memory. The control circuitry  910  is described in more detail in  FIG. 10 . 
     In an embodiment, information regarding detection of the raising and lowering of the shields  104 A/ 104 B may also be sent to the PAPR  904  via electrical conductors that may be, for example, part of the conduit  902 , or wirelessly from the head protection device  900  to the PAPR  904 . The PAPR  904  may then adjust the blower speed appropriately to either lower or raise the air flow speed. For example, when both shields  104 A and  104 B are lowered, the PAPR  904  may provide a first air flow, and when the outer face shield  104 A is raised but the inner face shield  104 B is lowered, the PAPR  904  may provide a second air flow that has a smaller air flow speed than an air flow speed of the first air flow. When both shields  104 A and  104 B are raised, the PAPR  904  may, for example, turn off the air flow to the head protection device  100 . 
     In addition to the automatic signaling by the head protection device  900 , a user may also be able to directly control the PAPR via a user interface such as with the input devices  1042  of the control circuitry  910 . The input device  1042  may comprise, for example, buttons, switches, rotary knobs, touch panel, etc. 
     The processor  1010  ( FIG. 10 ) may also process the detected signals regarding the shields  104 A/ 104 B to generate a control signal to control the PAPR  904  to change the air flow to the head protection device  100 . 
     Accordingly, it can be seen that the head protection device  900  and the PAPR  904  may each have control circuitry. However, the control circuitry  910  in the head protection device  900  may be different than the control circuitry  920  in the PAPR. Additionally, the power source  930  may provide power for the PAPR  904 , and may also provide power for the head protection device  900 . Similarly, the power source  914  may provide power for the head protection device  900 , and may also provide power for the PAPR  904 . 
       FIG. 10  shows a block diagram of an example control circuitry in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring to  FIG. 10 , there is shown an example control circuitry  1000  that may be used with various embodiments of the disclosure. The control circuitry  1000  may comprise, for example, a processor  1010 , memory  1020 , a communication interface  1030 , and an IO interface  1040 . The processor  1010  may comprise, for example, multiple processors. 
     The memory  1020  may include non-volatile memory  1026  and volatile memory  1028 . The storage described for holding local data may be part of the memory  1020  or comprise separate memory. The operating system  1022  and applications  1024  may be stored in, for example, the non-volatile memory  1026 , and may be copied to volatile memory  1028  for execution. Various embodiments of the disclosure may use different memory architectures that are design and/or implementation dependent. 
     The communication interface  1030  may allow the control circuitry  1000  to communicate with other devices via, for example, a wired protocol such as USB, Ethernet, Firewire, etc., or a wireless protocol such as Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), Wi-Fi, etc. The wired or wireless protocol may also be, for example, a proprietary protocol. The various types of radios for communication may be referred to as a transceiver for the sake of simplicity. The communication may be, for example, with various sensors and/or devices that can relay sensor data. The communication interface  1030  may also be used to communicate with other networks such as local networks, cellular networks, etc. 
     The control circuitry  1000  may also comprise the IO module  1040  for communication with a user via the input devices  1042  and output information to be displayed on output devices  1044 . The input devices  1042  may comprise, for example, switches, buttons, touch sensitive screen, which may be a part of a display, a microphone, etc. The input devices  1042  may also comprise, for example, various sensors, cameras, etc. The output devices  1044  may comprise, for example, the display, a speaker, LEDs, etc. 
     Accordingly, any one of numerous sensors such as switches, buttons, motion detectors, cameras, etc. may detect when a shield  104 A or  104 B is raised or lowered. The information that a shield  104 A or  104 B is raised or lowered may be processed by, for example, the processor  1010  and sent to an appropriate device such as, for example, the PAPR  904  via a wired or wireless communication using the communication interface  1030  in the control circuitry  1000  (or  910 ). 
     The processor  1010  may operate using different architectures in different embodiments. For example, the processor  1010  may use the memory  1020  to store instructions to execute, or the processor  1010  may have its own memory (not shown) for its instructions. 
     Various embodiments may use other architectures where the different functionalities may be grouped differently. For example, the grouping may be in different integrated circuit chips. Or the grouping may combine different devices such as the IO module  1040  and the communication interface  1030  together, etc. 
     Accordingly, it can be seen that the hard hat adapter  304  (or  700 ) may be used as a stand-alone device to which various attachments can be removably coupled, or as a part of a manufactured head protection device. The hard hat adapter  304  can clip into the slots of a hard hat and hold the welding helmet shell components in place. The hard hat adapter  304  may also be designed to removably couple to other hard hats that do not have slots. For example, the hard hat adapter  304  may be bolted to hard hat  302 , or mounted to the hard hat  302  using a halo adapter, etc. 
     An embodiment of the hard hat adapter  304  has a pivot point for the outer face shield  104 A that is not the same pivot point as for the inner face shield  104 B. This allows the inner face shield  104 B to clear the top of the hard hat  302  when it is raised. However, other embodiments may have the same pivot point for the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B depending on the hard hat  302 . An embodiment of the hard hat adapter  304  places the pivot point for the inner face shield  104 B below the brim of the hard hat  302  vertically and behind the center point horizontally (see  FIG. 5 ). This pivot location makes the center of gravity low when the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B are raised. 
     A user may raise the outer face shield  104 A and the inner face shield  104 B to have access to their face while keeping the head seal and blower manifold in place. The pivot points of hard hat adapter  304  may allow the welding helmet to sit close to a user&#39;s face. 
     Accordingly, it can be seen that the disclosure provides for an example head protection device for a user that comprises a hard hat, a hard hat adapter coupled to the hard hat, and a helmet shell comprising an outer face shield and an inner face shield coupled to the hard hat adapter at a first pivot point, and a blower shell coupled to the hard hat adapter, wherein at least a portion of the blower shell is vertically below the outer face shield and the inner face shield. 
     The outer face shield is configured to rotate about the first pivot point and the inner face shield is configured to rotate about a second pivot point. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are lowered, the outer face shield is configured to be raised without raising the inner face shield. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are lowered, the outer face shield and the inner face shield are configured to be raised together. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are raised, the inner face shield is configured to be lowered to cover a face of the user without lowering the outer face shield to cover the user&#39;s face. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are raised, the inner face shield and the outer face shield are configured to be lowered together. 
     Furthermore, the blower shell is coupled to the hard hat adapter via a lower arm of the hard hat adapter, and the blower shell does not rotate when one or both of the outer face shield and the inner face shield are rotated. The blower shell may comprise at least one air conduit to receive powered air flow from outside the head protection unit. The head protection device may also comprise a light source that can be turned on or off. 
     Also, while the example head protection device includes a hard hat, various examples of the disclosure may be thought of as a face protection device that does not include a hard hat. In place of the hard hat, there may be a structure such as, for example, webbing, that may be used. This may be used, for example, for protecting the face when head protection is not needed. This may allow, for example, the face protection device to be lighter in weight and lower in cost. 
     The disclosure may also provide for an example hard hat adapter that comprises a coupling mechanism to removably couple the hard hat adapter to a hard hat, an upper arm configured to removably couple to an outer face shield and an inner face shield, and a lower arm configured to removably couple to a blower shell. The outer face shield and the inner face shield may be configured to removably couple to the hard hat adapter at a first pivot point of the hard hat adapter, where the first pivot point is on an upper arm of the hard hat adapter. 
     The outer face shield and the inner face shield are coupled to the hard hat adapter, and the outer face shield is configured to rotate about the first pivot point and the inner face shield is configured to rotate about a second pivot point that is below the first pivot point and behind the first pivot point. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are lowered, the outer face shield is configured to be raised without raising the inner face shield. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are lowered, the outer face shield and the inner face shield are configured to be raised together. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are raised, the inner face shield is configured to be lowered to cover a face of a user without lowering the outer face shield to cover the user&#39;s face. When the outer face shield and the inner face shield are raised, the inner face shield and the outer face shield are configured to be lowered together. 
     The blower shell may be coupled to the hard hat adapter, and the blower shell does not rotate when one or both of the outer face shield and the inner face shield are rotated. A light source may be removably coupled to the blower shell, and the light source may be configured to turn on when the outer face shield is in a raised position, and turn off when the outer face shield is in a lowered position. 
     The hardhat adapter may also comprise an air conduit in the blower shell configured to receive air from a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR), where the PAPR is configured to deliver air at different air flow speeds when only the inner face shield is in a lowered position versus when both the inner face shield and the outer face shield are in the lowered position. That is, when only the inner face shield is lowered, the PAPR may deliver air at a first air flow speed, and when the inner face shield and the outer face shield are lowered, the PAPR may deliver air at a second air flow speed. 
     The various example descriptions provided for  FIG. 9  may also be applied to other examples of the disclosure. Generally, any aspect of an example of the disclosure may apply to any other example of the disclosure as appropriate. 
     At least some of the present methods and systems may be realized in hardware, software, and/or a combination of hardware and software. The present methods and/or systems may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least one computing system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computing systems. Any kind of computing system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware and software may include a general-purpose computing system with a program or other code that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computing system such that it carries out the methods described herein. Another typical implementation may comprise one or more application specific integrated circuit or chip. Some implementations may comprise a non-transitory machine-readable (e.g., computer readable) medium (e.g., FLASH memory, optical disk, magnetic storage disk, or the like) having stored thereon one or more lines of code executable by a machine, thereby causing the machine to perform processes as described herein. As used herein, the term “non-transitory machine-readable medium” is defined to include all types of machine readable storage media and to exclude propagating signals. 
     As utilized herein the terms “circuits” and “circuitry” refer to physical electronic components (i.e. hardware) and any software and/or firmware (“code”) which may configure the hardware, be executed by the hardware, and or otherwise be associated with the hardware. As used herein, for example, a particular processor and memory may comprise a first “circuit” when executing a first one or more lines of code and may comprise a second “circuit” when executing a second one or more lines of code. As utilized herein, “and/or” means any one or more of the items in the list joined by “and/or.” As an example, “x and/or y” means any element of the three-element set {(x), (y), (x, y)}. In other words, “x and/or y” means “one or both of x and y”. As another example, “x, y, and/or z” means any element of the seven-element set {(x), (y), (z), (x, y), (x, z), (y, z), (x, y, z)}. In other words, “x, y and/or z” means “one or more of x, y and z”. As utilized herein, the term “exemplary” means serving as a non-limiting example, instance, or illustration. As utilized herein, the terms “e.g.” and “for example” set off lists of one or more non-limiting examples, instances, or illustrations. As utilized herein, circuitry is “operable” to perform a function whenever the circuitry comprises the necessary hardware and code (if any is necessary) to perform the function, regardless of whether performance of the function is disabled or not enabled (e.g., by a user-configurable setting, factory trim, etc.). 
     While the present method and/or system has been described with reference to certain implementations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present method and/or system. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from its scope. Therefore, the present method and/or system are not limited to the particular implementations disclosed. Instead, the present method and/or system will include all implementations falling within the scope of the appended claims, both literally and under the doctrine of equivalents.