Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above, the invention aims to provide a signal acquisition system based on the combination of electroencephalogram and functional near infrared spectrum, so as to solve the problems of low accuracy of original electroencephalogram data, generally customized hardware scheme, poor upgradeability and poor universality in the process of observing electroencephalogram activity by combining the electroencephalogram technology with the near infrared spectrum technology in the prior art.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the present solution adopts the following technical means:
A signal acquisition system based on a combination of electroencephalogram and functional near infrared spectroscopy, the system comprising:
The upper computer is used for sending the program and the circuit parameters to be upgraded to the main circuit system and updating the electroencephalogram information original database and the electroencephalogram information feature library according to the signals acquired by the data acquisition module;
The main circuit system is used for transmitting the program and circuit parameters to be upgraded, which are transmitted by the upper computer, to the functional near infrared module and carrying out real-time on-line signal processing on the signals acquired by the data acquisition module according to a customized algorithm;
The data acquisition module is used for acquiring electroencephalogram information and auxiliary information;
And the functional near infrared module is used for transmitting and receiving near infrared light signals and updating the program and the circuit parameters according to the program and the circuit parameters to be updated, which are sent by the upper computer.
Further, the functional near infrared module comprises a functional near infrared transmitting module and a functional near infrared receiving module;
The functional near infrared emission module comprises an emission FPGA, a digital-to-analog converter, an emission FLASH, a power driving circuit, a power measuring circuit and a dual-wavelength near infrared LED;
The transmitting FLASH is used for storing a program of the transmitting FPGA and circuit parameter information of the functional near infrared transmitting module, and the program and the circuit parameter of the transmitting FLASH are updated through the transmitting FPGA;
The transmitting FPGA is used for converting the modulated driving waveform into an analog form through the digital-to-analog converter;
The power driving circuit is used for amplifying power of driving waveforms in an analog form;
The dual-wavelength near-infrared LED is used for emitting near-infrared light signals according to the driving waveform in the analog form after power amplification;
the power measuring circuit is used for measuring the driving power of the dual-wavelength near infrared LED.
Further, the functional near infrared receiving module comprises a photoelectric sensor, a demodulation chip, a variable parameter filter circuit, a variable amplifying circuit, a receiving FPGA and a receiving FLASH;
The receiving FLASH is used for storing a program of the receiving FPGA and circuit parameter information of the functional near infrared receiving module, and the program and the circuit parameter of the receiving FLASH are updated through the receiving FPGA;
The photoelectric sensor is used for detecting near infrared light signals of the functional near infrared emission module passing through brain tissues and converting the near infrared light signals into electric signals;
the demodulation chip is used for demodulating the electric signal;
the variable parameter filter circuit is used for filtering the demodulated electric signal;
the variable amplifying circuit is used for amplifying the filtered electric signal and then sending the amplified electric signal to the main circuit system.
Further, the transmitting FLASH and the receiving FLASH comprise a default program storage area, an updated program storage area, a default circuit parameter storage area, an updated circuit parameter storage area and a program update mark;
when the system does not upgrade programs and parameters online, the system defaults to use the data of the default program storage area and the default circuit parameter storage area;
When the system upgrades the program and the parameters online, the receiving FPGA and the transmitting FPGA update the upgraded program data and the circuit parameter data into the upgraded program storage area and the updated circuit parameter storage area;
when the system is powered on again, judging whether the system is updated according to the program update mark, if the update mark is in an updated state, using the data in the updated program storage area and the updated circuit parameter storage area, and if the update mark is in an un-updated state, using the data in the default program storage area and the default circuit parameter storage area.
Further, the main circuit system comprises a controller and an analog-to-digital converter, wherein the controller is connected with the analog-to-digital converter;
the upper computer is connected with the controller, and the functional near infrared emission module is connected with the controller;
the functional near infrared receiving module is connected with the analog-to-digital converter.
Further, the data acquisition module comprises an electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module and an auxiliary information acquisition module;
the electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module is connected with the analog-to-digital converter of the main circuit system and used for acquiring electroencephalogram information.
Further, the auxiliary information acquisition module is used for acquiring auxiliary information, and is connected with the controller of the main circuit system;
the auxiliary information comprises acceleration information and temperature information, and the acceleration information is used for the controller to evaluate the change condition of the electroencephalogram signal under the motion state;
The temperature information is used for the controller to perform temperature compensation on the circuit parameters of the functional near infrared module.
Further, the upper computer is further configured to configure a sampled time sequence parameter and send the time sequence parameter to a controller of the main circuit system, and the controller controls the data acquisition module and the functional near infrared module to sample according to the time sequence parameter.
Further, the main circuit system, the data acquisition module and the functional near infrared module are powered by the power supply module.
The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention can comprise the following beneficial effects:
According to the application, the upper computer sends the program and circuit parameters to be upgraded to the main circuit system, so that the real-time update of the parameters and the program of the functional near infrared module is realized, the problems of the existing near infrared spectrum related technology that the hardware scheme is generally customized, the upgradeability is poor and the universality is poor are solved, the aim of combining the electroencephalogram technology and the near infrared spectrum technology is realized through the design of the functional near infrared module and the data acquisition module, the change of the electroencephalogram signal under a specific stimulation event is dynamically evaluated, the characteristic change of the electroencephalogram signal is researched, and the problem of weak real-time analysis of the existing electroencephalogram signal is solved.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary examples do not represent all implementations consistent with the invention. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with aspects of the invention as detailed in the accompanying claims.
For better understanding of the present protocol, background knowledge is needed to understand that related theoretical studies indicate the concentration variation of HHB and HbO 2 in bloodThe calculation formula for Δ HHb is as follows:
In the calculation formulas (1), (2) and (3), Represents the change in the concentration of oxyhemoglobin in blood, Δ HHb represents the change in the concentration of reduced hemoglobin in blood, d represents the distance between the light source and the detector, Δa λ1 represents the change in the intensity of light after passing through tissue with a wavelength of λ 1, Δa λ2 represents the change in the intensity of light after passing through tissue with a wavelength of λ 2, DFP represents a differential path factor describing the lengthening of the light propagation path due to scattering,Represents the molar absorption coefficient of HHB to wavelength lambda 2 in blood,Represents the molar absorption coefficient of HbO 2 in blood to the wavelength lambda 1,Represents the molar absorption coefficient of HHB to wavelength lambda 1 in blood,Represents the molar absorption coefficient of HbO 2 to the wavelength lambda 2, DFP, The checked values can be taken and d belongs to a known quantity. Therefore, when the intensity of the incident light is constant, the change in the concentration of oxyhemoglobin and the change in the concentration of reduced hemoglobin in blood can be obtained from the changes Δa λ1 and Δa λ2 in the intensity of the light after the near infrared light having two wavelengths passes through the tissue.
Meanwhile, theoretical researches show that the wavelength of light with the wavelength of 650-900 nm is the optimal wavelength for detecting the concentration of HHB and HbO 2 in blood, and other substances in the blood have the smallest energy absorbed by the light signal in the wavelength range, so that the multifunctional signal acquisition system with the combination of electroencephalogram and functional near infrared spectrum, which is universal and flexible in software upgrading, is researched, has important practical significance, the system continuously corrects the defects of the calculation model of the concentration variation of HHB and HbO 2 in the existing blood by utilizing the experimental results of a plurality of test objects, improves the accuracy of the concentration variation of HHB and HbO 2 in the blood acquired by utilizing the functional near infrared spectrum technology, solves the problem of weak real-time analysis of the electroencephalogram by utilizing the hardware acceleration technology, and can greatly promote the research of the electroencephalogram and the application of the brain-computer interface technology.
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below. It will be apparent that the described embodiments are only some, but not all, embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, based on the examples herein, which are within the scope of the application as defined by the claims, will be within the scope of the application as defined by the claims.
Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a signal acquisition system based on a combination of electroencephalogram and functional near infrared spectrum according to an exemplary embodiment, the signal acquisition system being applied to the field of near infrared optics and biomedical intersection techniques, the signal acquisition system comprising:
The upper computer 1 is used for sending the program and circuit parameters to be upgraded to the main circuit system and updating a brain electricity information original database and a brain electricity information feature library according to the signals acquired by the data acquisition module;
The main circuit system 2 is used for sending the program and circuit parameters to be upgraded sent by the upper computer to the function near infrared module and carrying out real-time online signal processing on the signals acquired by the data acquisition module according to a customized algorithm;
the data acquisition module 3 is used for acquiring electroencephalogram information and auxiliary information;
The function near infrared module 4 is used for transmitting and receiving near infrared light signals and updating self programs and circuit parameters according to the programs and circuit parameters to be upgraded sent by the upper computer;
Specifically, the upper computer 1 is connected with the controller 201 of the main circuit system 2 through a standard bus (such as a serial port or an optical fiber, etc.), the functional near infrared transmitting module 401 is connected with the controller 201 of the main circuit system 2 through an on-board bus (such as an EMIF or an SPI or an I2C), the functional near infrared receiving module 402 is connected with the analog-to-digital converter 202 of the main circuit system 2 through an on-board analog interface (such as an AD interface), the electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module 301 is connected with the analog-to-digital converter 202 of the main circuit system 2 through an on-board analog interface (such as an AD interface), the controller 201 of the main circuit system 2 is also connected with the auxiliary information acquisition module 302 through an on-board bus (such as an SPI or an I2C, etc.), the controller 201 uses a multi-chip FPGA architecture, an FPGA and an ARM, etc. to enhance the real-time performance of a software processing algorithm, and the upper computer 1 sends an updated program and circuit parameter to the functional near infrared transmitting module 401 and the functional near infrared receiving module 402 through the controller 201 in the bus and the main circuit system 2 to change the functional near infrared receiving module 402.
Further, the functional near infrared module 4 comprises a functional near infrared transmitting module 401 and a functional near infrared receiving module 402;
the functional near infrared emission module 401 comprises an emission FPGA4011, a digital-to-analog converter 4012, an emission FLASH4013, a power driving circuit 4014, a power measuring circuit 4015 and a dual-wavelength near infrared LED4016;
The transmitting FLASH4013 is used for storing a program for transmitting the FPGA and circuit parameter information of the functional near infrared transmitting module 401, and updating the program and the circuit parameter of the transmitting FLASH4013 through the transmitting FPGA 4011;
the transmitting FPGA4011 is configured to convert the modulated driving waveform into an analog form through the digital-to-analog converter 4012;
the power driving circuit 4014 is used for amplifying power of driving waveforms in analog form;
The dual-wavelength near-infrared LED4016 is used for emitting near-infrared light signals according to the driving waveform in the analog form after power amplification;
The power measurement circuit 4015 is used for measuring the driving power of the dual-wavelength near infrared LED;
Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, the transmitting FLASH4013 stores a program of the transmitting FPGA and circuit parameter information (such as a modulation mode, a power amplification factor, a communication mode, etc.) of a functional near-infrared transmitting module, the transmitting FPGA4011 converts a modulated driving waveform into an analog form through a digital-to-analog converter 4012, then drives a dual-wavelength near-infrared LED4016 to emit a near-infrared light signal after power amplification through a power driving circuit 4014, the power measuring circuit 4015 is used for measuring driving power of the dual-wavelength near-infrared LED4016, and the program and circuit parameters of the transmitting FLASH4013 can be updated online in the functional near-infrared transmitting module 401 by using the transmitting FPGA4013, so that the function realized by the circuit can be dynamically adjusted, and the flexibility of the circuit is enhanced.
Further, the functional near infrared receiving module 402 includes a photoelectric sensor 4023, a demodulation chip 4024, a variable parameter filter circuit 4025, a variable amplifying circuit 4026, a receiving FPGA4021, and a receiving FLASH4022;
The receiving FLASH4022 is configured to store a program of the receiving FPGA4021 and circuit parameter information of the functional near infrared receiving module 402, and update the program and the circuit parameter of the receiving FLASH4022 through the receiving FPGA 4021;
The photoelectric sensor 4023 is configured to detect a near infrared light signal transmitted by the functional near infrared emitting module 402 through brain tissue and convert the near infrared light signal into an electrical signal;
The demodulation chip 4024 is configured to demodulate an electrical signal;
The variable parameter filter circuit 4025 is configured to filter the demodulated electrical signal;
the variable amplifying circuit 4026 is configured to amplify the filtered electrical signal and send the amplified electrical signal to the main circuitry 2;
specifically, as shown in fig. 3, the functional near infrared receiving module 402 converts modulated near infrared light after brain tissue into an electrical signal by using the photoelectric sensor 4023 and sends the electrical signal to the analog-to-digital converter 202 in the main circuit system 2 after demodulation, filtering and amplification, and the functional near infrared receiving module 402 can configure parameters of the demodulation, filtering and amplification circuit by using an FPGA, so as to increase flexibility and expandability of hardware.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 4, the effect of the transmitting cassette and the receiving cassette is to eliminate the interference of the ambient light, improve the measurement accuracy, the transmitting cassette and the receiving cassette are made of light-isolating materials, the near infrared light LED in the transmitting cassette irradiates the tissue through a lens and a filter, the incident light is transmitted to the photoelectric sensor 4023 through the transmitted light after being absorbed by the tissue, and the concentration variation of HHb and HbO 2 in the blood can be obtained by detecting the intensity of the transmitted light.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 5, the present application enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal by using 4 LEDs emitting near infrared light at two wavelengths.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 7 and fig. 8, in order to realize configurable amplification factor and filtering parameters, resistors in the circuit can be replaced by digital potentiometers, and the purpose of changing the circuit parameters is achieved by dynamically configuring the digital potentiometers to different values through receiving the FPGA, for example, the resistor R19 in fig. 7 is replaced by digital potentiometers, the amplification factor of the primary circuit can be changed, the resistors R21-R24 in fig. 8 are replaced by digital potentiometers, the characteristics of the filtering circuit can be changed, and the resistors R26 and R27 in fig. 8 are replaced by digital potentiometers, so that the amplification factor of the final circuit can be changed.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 6, the application also provides a working flow diagram of the signal acquisition system, which mainly comprises three processes, namely an online upgrading process, a data acquisition process and a data transmission process;
On-line upgrade process:
The functions of the functional near infrared transmitting module 401, the main circuit system 2 and the functional near infrared receiving module 402 in the system are flexibly changed by upgrading the controllers (such as ARM, DSP and the like) or FPGA programs in the functional near infrared transmitting module 401, the main circuit system 2 and the functional near infrared receiving module 402 in the system, so that the flexibility of the system is enhanced. When upgrading online, the system upgrades the program according to the upgrade identification. If the upgrade mark is 1, the function near infrared transmitting module 401 is updated, if the upgrade mark is 2, the controller program in the main circuit system 2 is updated, if the upgrade mark is 3, the program of the function near infrared receiving module 402 is updated, and after the system is upgraded, the power-on system is automatically updated to the latest state again;
and (3) data acquisition process:
Firstly, judging whether system parameters (such as amplification factor of an amplifier, bandwidth of a filter, sampling frequency and the like) need to be updated, if so, the upper computer 1 sends the parameters to the main circuit system 2, the functional near infrared transmitting module 401, the functional near infrared receiving module 402 and the like, the system uses the latest parameters, otherwise, the system uses default parameters for acquisition; then, the functional near infrared emission module 401 emits near infrared light to brain tissue, near infrared light signals after passing through the brain tissue are detected by the photoelectric sensor 4023 in the functional near infrared receiving module 402 and then are converted into electric signals, and then are demodulated, filtered and amplified and then are sent to the analog-to-digital converter 202 of the main circuit system 2, secondly, the data acquisition module 3 is synchronously started while the near infrared light signals are acquired, finally, the controller 201 of the main circuit system 2 (in a hardware architecture form of combining a plurality of FPGA architectures, FPGA and DSP, FPGA and ARM and other processors) carries out real-time online signal processing on the acquired near infrared information, brain electrical information, acceleration information and temperature information, and the algorithm of signal processing can be customized in real time according to research requirements (such as FFT, main component analysis method, independent component analysis method, wavelet transformation method and autoregressive AR model method), and the real-time performance, flexibility and universality of the system are enhanced through online modification of hardware and software;
And (3) a data transmission process:
The acquired original near infrared information and the electroencephalogram information are packaged and transmitted to the upper computer 1 through the serial port or the light interface, the upper computer 1 updates an electroencephalogram information original database, meanwhile, discrete feature analysis can be carried out on electroencephalogram information and blood oxygen signals on the upper computer 1, the acquired original data are visually displayed, and the electroencephalogram information is objectively evaluated by combining the age, the height, the weight and the health condition of an acquired object, so that a big data basis is provided for later medical decision, and meanwhile, the electroencephalogram database is updated into an electroencephalogram information feature library so as to provide original materials for later big data analysis of electroencephalogram information features.
Further, the transmitting FLASH4013 and the receiving FLASH4022 comprise a default program storage area, an updated program storage area, a default circuit parameter storage area, an updated circuit parameter storage area and a program update mark;
when the system does not upgrade programs and parameters online, the system defaults to use the data of the default program storage area and the default circuit parameter storage area;
When the system upgrades the program and the parameters online, the receiving FPGA and the transmitting FPGA update the upgraded program data and the circuit parameter data into the upgraded program storage area and the updated circuit parameter storage area;
When the system is powered on again, judging whether the system is updated according to the program update mark, if the update mark is in an updated state, using the data in the updated program storage area and the updated circuit parameter storage area;
Specifically, as shown in fig. 9, during online upgrade, the system upgrades the program according to the upgrade identifier. If the upgrade mark is 1, the function near infrared transmitting module 401 is updated, if the upgrade mark is 2, the controller 201 program in the main circuit system 2 is updated, if the upgrade mark is 3, the program of the function near infrared receiving module 402 is updated, and after the system is upgraded, the power-on system is automatically updated to the latest state again;
When the system is not in on-line upgrade, the system defaults to use the data of the default program storage area and the default circuit parameter storage area, when the system is in on-line upgrade, the receiving FPGA4021 and the transmitting FPGA4011 can update the upgraded program data and the circuit parameter data into the upgraded program storage area and the updated circuit parameter storage area, when the system is powered on again, the program update mark of the FLASH storage area can be judged, if the update mark is in an updated state, the updated program and the parameter are used, and if the update mark is in an un-updated state, the default program and the parameter data are used.
Further, the main circuitry 2 comprises a controller 201 and an analog-to-digital converter 202, wherein the controller 201 is connected with the analog-to-digital converter 202;
The upper computer 1 is connected with the controller 201, and the functional near infrared emission module 401 is connected with the controller 201;
The functional near infrared receiving module 402 is connected with the analog-to-digital converter 202;
specifically, the main circuit system 2 further includes a bluetooth module, and the bluetooth module is used for communication with other devices.
Further, the data acquisition module 3 comprises an electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module 301 and an auxiliary information acquisition module 302;
The electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module 301 is connected with the analog-to-digital converter 202 of the main circuit system 2 and is used for acquiring electroencephalogram information;
specifically, the electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module 301 is connected with the analog-to-digital converter 202 of the main circuit system 2 through an on-board analog interface (such as an AD interface), and the controller 201 of the main circuit system 2 is also connected with the auxiliary information acquisition module 302 through an on-board bus (such as an SPI or I2C interface).
Further, the auxiliary information collecting module 302 is configured to collect auxiliary information, where the auxiliary information collecting module is connected to the controller of the main circuit system;
The auxiliary information includes acceleration information and temperature information, and the acceleration information is used for the controller 201 to evaluate the change condition of the electroencephalogram signal in the motion state;
the temperature information is used for the controller 201 to perform temperature compensation on the circuit parameters of the functional near infrared module 4;
further, the upper computer 1 is further configured to configure a sampled timing parameter and send the configured timing parameter to the controller 201 of the main circuit system 2, and the controller 201 controls the data acquisition module 3 and the functional near infrared module 4 to sample according to the timing parameter;
Specifically, as shown in fig. 10, the upper computer 1 firstly configures a sampling time sequence parameter, after the system receives the time sequence parameter, the system samples according to the corresponding time sequence parameter, and during the acquisition, an electroencephalogram signal acquisition electrode and a near infrared photoelectric detector are arranged in a crossing manner, so that the spatial resolution of signals is increased, in fig. 10, a synchronization pulse is controlled by the main circuit system 201, and after the synchronization pulse is sent, each circuit synchronously starts to acquire functional near infrared light information, electroencephalogram information, acceleration information and temperature information.
The functional near infrared light collection is divided into three periods of 1-8 background light periods, 9-16 wavelength periods and 17-24 wavelength periods, the functional near infrared emission module 401 of the 1-8 background light periods is closed to emit light signals of the 1 wavelength, the functional near infrared emission module of the 1 wavelength periods emits light signals of the 2 wavelength, the functional near infrared emission module 401 of the 2 wavelength periods emits light signals of the 2 wavelength, the electroencephalogram signals of the electroencephalogram channels 1-6 can be collected, the number of the collected channels can be configured through the upper computer 1, and acceleration and temperature information are sampled once in one synchronous period.
Further, the main circuit system 2, the data acquisition module 3 and the functional near infrared module 4 are powered by a power supply module;
Specifically, the power module provides power supply for the main circuit system 2, the auxiliary information acquisition module 302, the functional near infrared transmitting module 401, the functional near infrared receiving module 402 and the electroencephalogram acquisition analog circuit module 301, and comprises an analog domain power supply and a digital domain power supply, so that measurement accuracy is improved.
It is to be understood that the same or similar parts in the above embodiments may be referred to each other, and that in some embodiments, the same or similar parts in other embodiments may be referred to.
It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. Furthermore, in the description of the present invention, unless otherwise indicated, the meaning of "plurality" means at least two.
Any process or method descriptions in flow charts or otherwise described herein may be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps of the process, and further implementations are included within the scope of the preferred embodiment of the present invention in which functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present invention.
It is to be understood that portions of the present invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the above-described embodiments, the various steps or methods may be implemented in software or firmware stored in a memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented in hardware, as in another embodiment, may be implemented using any one or combination of techniques known in the art, discrete logic circuits with logic gates for implementing logic functions on data signals, application specific integrated circuits with appropriate combinational logic gates, programmable Gate Arrays (PGAs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and the like.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the steps carried out in the method of the above-described embodiments may be implemented by a program to instruct related hardware, where the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and where the program, when executed, includes one or a combination of the steps of the method embodiments.
In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated in one processing module, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. The integrated modules may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as a stand-alone product.
The above-mentioned storage medium may be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, or the like.
In the description of the present specification, a description referring to terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "examples," "specific examples," or "some examples," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments or examples. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.
While embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it will be understood that the above embodiments are illustrative and not to be construed as limiting the invention, and that variations, modifications, alternatives and variations may be made to the above embodiments by one of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the invention.