Patent Application
20250174649
The present disclosure relates generally to battery cathode materials and particularly to battery cathode materials with a rock salt type crystal structure.
A cathode is a key component of a battery or fuel cell. Particularly, the cathode serves as a positive electrode where cations migrating from an anode and through an electrolyte electrochemically react with electrons arriving at the cathode via an external circuit. In addition, discovery and/or development of new materials from which cathodes are formed (i.e., cathode materials) can be desirable. However, the development of such cathode materials can be time and cost intensive.
The present disclosure addresses issues related to new cathode materials, the development and/or discovery of new cathode materials, and other issues related to cathode materials.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
In one form of the present disclosure, a cathode for a Li ion battery includes a cathode material with the chemical formula Li4+δMx1M′y1M″z1O8 or Li2+δMx2M′y2M″z2O4, and where 0≤δ≤1, x1, y1, z1 are integers and x1+y1+z=4, x2, y2, z2 are integers and x2+y2+z2=2, and M, M′, and M″ are elements selected independently from hafnium (Hf), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), scandium (Sc), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), gallium (Ga), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), ruthenium (Ru), tin (Sn), and antimony (Sb).
In another form of the present disclosure, a method includes estimating synthesizability and metal-ion diffusion availability for a plurality of cathode material compositions with the chemical formula Li4+δMx1M′y1M″z1O8 or Li2+δMx2M′y2M″z2O4 where 0≤δ≤1, x1, y1, z1 are integers and x1+y1+z1=4, x2, y2, z2 are integers and x2+y2+z2=2, and M, M′, and M″ are at least two different cation elements. The method also includes selecting a first subset of cathode material compositions from the plurality of cathode material compositions as a function of the estimated synthesizability and metal-ion diffusion availability, and estimating voltage discharge, charge capacity, and oxygen stability for the first subset of cathode material compositions. The method further includes selecting a second subset of cathode material compositions from the first subset of cathode material compositions as a function of the estimated voltage discharge, charge capacity, and oxygen stability, and synthesizing and evaluating at least one of the second subset of cathode material compositions.
Further areas of applicability and various methods of enhancing the above technology will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The present teachings will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The present disclosure provides new cathode materials with a disordered-rock-salt (DRX) crystal structure and/or a combined DRX+layered crystal structure, methods for discovering new cathode materials with a DRX crystal structure and/or a combined DRX+layered crystal structure, and methods for synthesizing new cathode materials with a DRX crystal structure and/or a combined DRX+layered crystal structure. In some variations, the cathode materials with the DRX crystal structure (referred to hereafter as “DRX cathode material” or “DRX cathode materials”) and/or the combined DRX+layered crystal structure (referred to hereafter as “DRX/layered cathode material or “DRX/cathode materials”) form at least a portion of a cathode for a secondary battery, e.g., a cathode of a Li-ion secondary battery. And in such variations, the DRX and/or DRX/layered cathode materials have reduced volume change during charging and discharging of the secondary battery. In at least one variation, the DRX crystal structure of the DRX and/or DRX/layered cathode materials exhibit enhanced ion diffusion and thereby provide for reduced charging times for secondary batteries. And in some variations, the DRX and/or DRX/layered cathode materials do not include relatively costly elements such as cobalt. As used herein, the phrase “disordered-rock-salt crystal structure” refers to a crystal structure with the Fm-3m symmetry group, made up of alternating layers of oxygen and cations (which may be transition metals or lithium), where the transition metals and lithium atoms may occupy any site on the cation sublattice in any pattern—this is in contrast with ordered phases, where a distinct pattern is observed of no mixing between the lithium and transition metals (in other words, cation layers are either all-Li or all-TM).
The present disclosure also provides systems and/or methods for discovering cathode materials with the DRX crystal structure. The methods include estimating synthesizability and metal-ion diffusion (e.g., Li-ion diffusion) for a plurality of cathode material compositions having a rock salt type crystal structure, and based on the estimated synthesizability and metal-ion diffusion, selecting a first or initial subset of cathode material compositions for further study. The methods also include estimating voltage discharge (e.g., the average voltage during discharging or the voltage window during operation), gravimetric charge capacity, and oxygen stability of the first subset of cathode material compositions, and based on the estimated voltage discharge, gravimetric charge capacity, and oxygen stability, selecting a second subset of cathode material compositions from the first subset. In this manner, the second subset of cathode material compositions are filtered out or selected from the plurality of cathode material compositions as having the best chance or probability of being feasibly manufactured (synthesized) as a DRX cathode material and being suitable from a performance perspective. Stated differently, the systems and/or methods predict a subset of cathode material compositions that have a DRX crystal structure and a desired combination of manufacturability and performance, and thereby reduce the cost and time of developing new cathode materials.
Referring to
In some variations, M and M′ are the same element and M″ is a different element (M=M′≠M″), while in other variations, M′ and M″ are the same element and M is a different element (M #M′=M″). And in some variations, M, M′, and M″ are all different elements (M #M′≠M″). Also, in some variations, 0≤δ<1, while in other variations 0≤δ≤1. In at least one variation, 0≤δ<1, and in some variations 0≤δ<1.
Non-limiting examples of DRX and/or DRX/layered cathode materials according to the teachings of the present disclosure include Li2+δTiVO4, Li2+δVFeO4, Li4+δHfTiV2O8, Li4+δVFe2SnO8, Li4+δScV2FeO8, Li4+δCrFeNi2O8, Li4+δMn2CoRuO8, Li4+δMn2NiRuO8, Li4+δCrFe2NiO8, Li4+δHfCrFe2O8, Li4+δZrV3O8, Li4+δMn2NiSbO8, Li4+δMn2CoSbO8, Li4+δCr2FeCuO8, Li4+δCr2FeNiO8, Li4+δTiCrFe2O8, Li4+δHfV3O8, Li4+δMn2FeRuO8, Li4+δMnCrNi2O8, Li4+δCr2GaFeO8, Li4+δZrCrFe2O8, Li4+δTi2VCrO8, Li4+δZrV2FeO8, Li4+δFeCo2RuO8, Li4+δFe2CoRuO8, Li4+δCrFe2SnO8, Li4+δCrFe2CuO8, Li4+δFe2NiSbO8, Li4+δScMnV2O8, Li4+δScTiV2O8, Li4+δMnV2FeO8, Li4+δMnCo2RuO8, Li4+δHfV2FeO8, Li4+δTiCr2CuO8, Li4+δTiV3O8, Li4+δScCr2NiO8, Li4+δMn2CrFeO8, Li4+δV2FeSnO8, Li4+δTiVFe2O8, Li4+δCr2CuNiO8, Li4+δMnNbFe2O8, Li4+δNbFe2NiO8, Li4+δV2GaFeO8, Li4+δV3FeO8, Li4+δAlV2FeO8, Li4+δCrNi2SnO8, and Li4+δTiCrNi2O8.
Referring to
In some variations the available oxidation states of cations and/or octahedral coordination preference of each cation in oxides are/is determined for each of the cathode material compositions. And in at least one variation, the generation of the cathode material compositions at 200 includes each of the cathode material compositions being charge balanced and having a cation redox capability of extracting at least 0.5 Li per formula unit.
In some variations, estimating the synthesizability at 210 includes designing a Special Quasirandom Structure (SQS) as a representative supercell for each of the DRX crystal structure 222, the layered crystal structure 224, the spinel-like crystal structure 226, and the γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structure 228 (collectively referred to herein as “crystal structures 222-228), and predicting the mixing enthalpy of disordering for each cathode material composition—crystal structure combination. In at least one variation, the SQSs are designed as taught in the reference Phys. Rev. Lett. 1990, 65, 353, by A. Zunger et al., which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Not being limited by theory, a SQS is a limited-size low-symmetry periodic supercell chosen to have cluster correlations close to their random limit, and a SQS can be used to effectively predict the mixing enthalpy and order-disorder transition temperature of a DRX. In some variations, shorter (smaller) clusters of atoms are assumed to provide enhanced prediction characteristics or estimates, and in such variations an objective function to be minimized can take the form:
where ω is a customizable weight parameter and L is the maximum cluster length such that all correlations δα for clusters α with diameter less than L in an SQS agree with the targeted random distribution.
In some variations, 64-atom SQSs for the crystal structures 222-228 are generated and four 128-atom SQSs for the crystal structures 222-228 are also generated to test size convergence. In at least one variation, the SQSs for the DRX crystal structure of each of the cathode material compositions are generated with the element ratio of Li(M0.5M′0.25M″0.25)O2 and all cations are allowed to randomly mix on all cation sites. And the SQSs for the layered, spinel-like, and γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structures are designed with same the Li0.5M′0.25M″0.25 ratio, but with Li on its own sublattice and the M, M′, and M″ cations placed and mixed on the remaining cation sites as random as possible.
For example, in some variations, the mixing enthalpy of disordering is calculated for each cathode material composition represented by the SQSs for the crystal structures 222-228 using first principles energy calculations (e.g., Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations), and Long Range Order (LRO) and Short Range Order (SRO) crystal structure preferences are estimated for each cation combination (i.e., each crystal structure for each cathode material composition) based on the first principles energy calculations. In at least one variation, DFT energies for the SQSs are transformed to convex hull energies (Ehull) generated with the Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD) as taught in the reference npj Comput Mater 2015, 1, 1, by S. Kirklin et al., and the reference JOM 2013, 65, 1501, by J. E. Saal et al., both of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
In some variations, high-throughput DFT (HT-DFT) energy calculations are executed using the OQMD framework with coarse ionic relaxations first performed with OQMD default DFT settings. In such variations, the HT-DFT energy calculations are converged to 10−3 eV for ionic relaxation loop and 10−4 eV for electronic SC-loop, followed by static calculations with 520 eV cutoff energy for plane wave basis set and 8,000 k-points per reciprocal atom (KPPRA). Fine ionic relaxations are then performed for top candidates to check force convergence with a 520 eV cutoff energy and 8000 KPPRA converged to 10−2 eV Å−1 for ionic relaxation loop, followed by final static calculations converged to 10−6 eV to get energies transformed to Ehull.
In some variations, the Ehull energies are compared with TSconfig where T=1273 K and Sconfig is the ideal configuration entropy from the mixing sites and final Ehull−TSconfig free energies are used for predicting LRO tendency for each composition. And in at least one variation, the SRO for each of the four SQS representative supercells is assumed to be the same as the LRO.
In some variations, estimating the metal-ion diffusion at 220, a SQS is designed as a representative short-range order (SRO) cell each of the DRX crystal structure 222, the layered crystal structure 224, the spinel-like crystal structure 226, and the γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structure 228. Not being bound by theory, and for example, for rock salt-type LiMO2, a relevant SRO to Li diffusion is from the smallest 4-body cluster of the Oh site. Stated differently, the population and connectivity of the Li4 (0-TM) cluster are the significant factors for the SQS. In some variations, the sensitivity of the preference of each composition for an Li4 or Li-M mixing configuration is considered for a screening strategy.
In some variations, the SQS for the LRO spinel-like crystal structure and the SQS for the LRO γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structure were used as a first approximation of the SQS for the SRO spinel-like crystal structure and the SQS for the SRO γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structure, respectively. However, it should be understood that the SRO parameter(s) for DRX crystal structures is a function of a local chemical ordering effect and the LRO parameter for DRX crystal structures should equal zero, i.e., there is no well-defined ordering on the metal-ion sublattice. Accordingly, the SQS for a metal-ion ordered sublattice is not the actual or theoretically accurate representation of disorder materials with specific SRO, but SRO and LRO have been found to be same type and has been sued to explain the SRO tendency in DRX crystal structures. Accordingly, the SQS for the LRO spinel-like crystal structure and the SQS for the LRO γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structure were used for qualitative estimates of the SRO energetics for the plurality of cathode material compositions and the SRO descriptor was designed to be the Ehull difference between the spinel-like crystal structure and the γ-LiFeO2-like crystal structure.
The method 20 selects a first subset of cathode material compositions from the cathode material compositions at 230 based on the estimated synthesizability and/or the metal-ion diffusion of each of the cathode material compositions executed or performed at 210, 220, respectively. Stated differently, the cathode material compositions that exhibit a tendency of being synthesized and stable in a desired phase are selected as the first subset of cathode material compositions for continued study. For example, in some variations the first subset of cathode material compositions is selected from the cathode material compositions exhibiting a tendency of being synthesized and having the DRX crystal structure 222 and/or the layered crystal structure 224. As used herein, the phrase “tendency” refers to a qualitative and/or quantitative measurement or calculation for a desirable result using known chemical and/or physical properties. For example, in some variations a tendency of being synthesized refers to a quantitative calculation and/or formation energy calculated value for a cathode material composition having the DRX crystal structure 222.
The method 20 estimates a voltage discharge for each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 240, a discharge capacity for each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 250, and an oxygen stability for each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 260. In some variations, the voltage discharge is estimated with metal-ion chemical potentials of ground states by Grand Canonical Linear Programing (GCLP) and the discharge capacity is estimated from the cation redox contribution.
For example, in some variations, the grand canonical free energy Ω(μLi) at each Li chemical potential μLi; is assumed to be directly related to the voltage and has the form:
where xj is the molar fraction of phase j with corresponding free energy Fj and Li amounts per formula unit of njLi. Also, Ω(μLi) is then the objective function of the linear programming problem with respect to variables x while holding the conservation constraint on other species.
The method 20 selects a second subset of cathode material compositions from the first subset of cathode material compositions based on the voltage discharge, discharge capacity, and/or oxygen stability at 270. In some variations, the method 20 includes synthesizing and evaluating (testing) on at least a portion of the second subset or cathode material compositions at 280. Stated differently, the first subset of cathode material compositions that exhibit a voltage discharge, discharge capacity, and/or oxygen stability above or below a predefined value are selected as the second subset of cathode material compositions for continued synthesizing and testing at 280.
Still referring to
The theoretical maximum cation capacity is computed by assuming a range of oxidation states that each transition metal can assume in the composition and that respectively during charge/discharge the transition metals are oxidized/reduced to their respective maximum/minimum oxidation states. From here, assuming a unit charge associated with each in units of milli-ampere hours, a gravimetric charge capacity may be estimated. The GCLP estimations are performed by comparing the energies obtained from first-principles simulation associated with each phase against a database of known phases, and computing the change in energy that would result from decomposition of the chemical compound in question to the most stable known forms of the constituent elements. This problem—solved using the formalism of linear programming—is performed at varying Li chemical potential, which allows an estimate of how this decomposition energy changes as a function of Li content of the composition. This change in energy as Li is inserted into the material (during intercalation) can be estimated by this process, and when interpreted as the change in energy of the cathode during lithiation and delithiation, can be used to estimate what the operating voltage of the cathode looks like. Taking the average of this voltage over a range of lithiation/delithiaton gives the average voltage, and taking the max-min (voltage drop) gives an estimate of the voltage window. This procedure is detailed elsewhere in Akbarzadeh, Alireza R., Vidvuds Ozoliins, and Christopher Wolverton, “First-principles determination of multicomponent hydride phase diagrams: application to the Li—Mg—NH system.” Advanced Materials (Weinheim) 19 (2007).
The second subset of cathode material compositions selected at 270 included Li4+δCrFeNi2O8, Li4+δCrFe2NiO8, Li4+δTiCrNi2O8, Li4+δCr2FeNiO8, Li4+δCr2FeCuO8, Li4+δCr2GaFeO8, Li4+δTiCr2CuO8, and Li2+δCrCuO4. Accordingly, from approximately six thousand possible cathode material compositions, the method 20 provided a list of nine new cathode materials that exhibit a tendency for being synthesized and stable with a DRX crystal structure phase, and have desirable calculated voltage discharge, discharge capacity, and/or oxygen stability.
Referring to
At 320, the method 30 includes designing cation ordering crystal structures (e.g., disordered, layered, spinel-like, and γ-LiFeO2-like cation ordering crystal structures) for each of the first subset of cathode material compositions and a first principle energy calculation (e.g., DFT energy calculation) is performed on each cation ordering crystal structure for each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 325. The method 30 proceeds to 330 where the calculated first principle energy calculations are used for predicting the long-range order (LRO) and the short-range order (SRO) for each cation ordering crystal structure of each of the first subset of cathode material compositions, and a second subset of cathode material compositions is selected from the first subset of cathode material compositions as a function of the predicted LRO and SRO for each cation ordering crystal structure of each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 335.
The method 30 further includes estimating the charge capacity of each of the second subset of cathode material compositions at 340, estimating the discharge capacity of each of the second subset of cathode material compositions at 345, and estimating the oxygen stability of each of the second subset of cathode material compositions at 350. In some variations, at least one of the second subset of cathode of material compositions is synthesized and evaluated.
A third subset of cathode material compositions is selected from the second subset of cathode material compositions as a function of the estimated charge capacity, discharge capacity, and oxygen stability at 355. In some variations, the third subset of cathode material compositions includes Li4+δCrFeNi2O8, Li4+δCrFe2NiO8, Li4+δTiCrNi2O8, Li4+δCr2FeNiO8, Li4+δCr2FeCuO8, Li4+δCr2GaFeO8, and Li4+δTiCr2CuO8. And in at least one variation, the third subset of cathode material compositions are synthesized and evaluated at 360.
Referring to
The method 40 further includes designing the four disordered, layered, spinel-like, and γ-LiFeO2-like cation ordering crystal structures for each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 420 and calculating DFT energy for each cation ordering crystal structure of each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 425. The method 40 proceeds to 430 where the calculated DFT energies are used for predicting the long-range order (LRO) and the short-range order (SRO) for each cation ordering crystal structure of each of the first subset of cathode material compositions, and a second subset of cathode material compositions is selected from the first subset of cathode material compositions as a function of the predicted LRO and SRO for each cation ordering crystal structure of each of the first subset of cathode material compositions at 435.
The method 40 further includes estimating the charge capacity of each of the second subset or cathode material compositions at 440, estimating the discharge capacity of each of the second subset or cathode material compositions at 445, and estimating the oxygen stability of each of the second subset or cathode material compositions at 450. A third subset of cathode material compositions is selected from the second subset of cathode material compositions as a function of the estimated charge capacity, discharge capacity, and oxygen stability at 455. In some variations, the third subset of cathode material compositions includes Li4+δCrFeNi2O8, Li4+δCrFe2NiO8, Li4+δTiCrNi2O8, Li4+δCr2FeNiO8, Li4+δCr2FeCuO8, Li4+δCr2GaFeO8, Li4+δTiCr2CuO8, and Li2+δCrCuO4. And in at least one variation, the third subset of cathode material compositions are synthesized and evaluated at 460.
In order to better illustrate the teachings of the present disclosure and yet not limit the scope thereof in any way, prediction of DRX compounds versus successfully synthesized DRX compounds are discussed below. Particularly, and with reference to Table 2 below, LRO predictions based on approximate free energyF(meV/atom)=Ehull−TSconfig, and x-ray diffraction (XRD) results for the second subset of cathode material compositions selected at step 270 of the method 20 or the third subset of cathode material compositions selected at step 355 of method 30 or step 455 of method 40 are shown.
The compositions shown in Table 2 were synthesized stoichiometrically (labeled “Stoichiometric phase”) and with 2000 Li-excess (labeled “20% Li-excess phase”) with the number of cations adjusted accordingly. The compositions were prepared using solid-state synthesis, which entails combining/mixing precursors together before treatment at high temperature in a furnace. Also, the precursors were: Li2CO3 (Wako, 99.0%), Cr2O3 (Nacalai Tesque, 98.5%), Fe2O3 (Kojundo chemical laboratory, 99.9%), Ga2O3 (Wako, 99.99%), NiO(Wako, 99.9%), CuO(Wako, 95.0%), TiO2 (Wako, 99.0%), and ZrO2 (Wako, 98.0%). The appropriate precursors (raw materials) were mixed in stoichiometric composition quantities, except for Li2CO3, which was included with 3% excess. A mixture of 3 grams of raw materials and 6 milliliters of ethanol was placed in a 45 mL ball milling pot and wet ball milled at 300 rpm for 255 minutes to form a slurry using a Pulversettle 7 (FRITSCH) ball mill. The slurry was dried at 120° C. under vacuum to form a dry powder and the dry powder was placed in a boat-shaped crucible with copper foil wrapped around it and sintered at 1000° C. in a furnace for 12h in an argon (Ar) or air atmosphere to form a sintered sample. The sintered sample was then taken out of the furnace at 120° C. and quickly transferred to an Ar atmosphere glove box to minimize air exposure. Inside the glove box, the sintered sample was ground with an agate mortar to form a sintered powder and fine DRX particles were formed (when present) by placing 1 gram of the sintered powder into a ball milling pot in an Ar-glove box and balled milling at 600 rpm for 30 hours using the Pulversettle 7 ball mill. In addition, crystal structures of the powders were measured using an X-ray diffractometer with Cu-Kα radiation in the range of 5-120° with a 0.005° step and a 2° min−1 scan speed.
As observed from Table 2, three (3) of the eight synthesized cathode material compositions had the DRX crystal structure and one of the synthesized cathode material compositions had a DRX+layered crystal structure. Accordingly, the methods disclose herein took an initial set of 6,000 possible cathode material compositions and provided a set of eight cathode material compositions for synthesis, and 50% of the synthesized cathode material compositions exhibited at least some DRX crystal structure and 37.5% of the synthesized cathode material compositions exhibited a complete DRX crystal structure (i.e., the DRX crystal structure was the only phase present).
Referring now to
Based on the teachings of the present disclosure it should be understood that cathodes formed from new cathode material compositions and methods for discovering new cathode materials for cathodes are provided. In some variations, the cathodes are formed from only one of the new cathode material compositions, while in other variations, a cathode is formed two or more new cathode material compositions. For example, in at least one variation a cathode is formed from a plurality of new cathode material compositions such as Li4+δCrFeNi2O8, Li4+δCrFe2NiO8, Li4+δTiCrNi2O8, Li4+δCr2FeNiO8, Li4+δCr2FeCuO8, Li4+δCr2GaFeO8, Li4+δTiCr2CuO8, and/or Li2+δCrCuO4.
While described as methods and illustrated with flowcharts, it should be understood that the present disclosure provides for systems that execute the methods described herein. For example, a system disclosed herein can include a processor, a memory communicably coupled to the processor and storing machine-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the methods and/or method steps disclosed herein, among others.
The preceding description is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application, or uses. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it may be described in the background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.
As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A or B or C), using a non-exclusive logical “or.” It should be understood that the various steps within a method may be executed in different order without altering the principles of the present disclosure. Disclosure of ranges includes disclosure of all ranges and subdivided ranges within the entire range.
The headings (such as “Background” and “Summary”) and sub-headings used herein are intended only for general organization of topics within the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the disclosure of the technology or any aspect thereof. The recitation of multiple variations or forms having stated features is not intended to exclude other variations or forms having additional features, or other variations or forms incorporating different combinations of the stated features.
The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments. In this regard, a block in the flowcharts or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.
The systems, components and/or processes described above can be realized in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and can be realized in a centralized fashion in one processing system or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected processing systems. Any kind of processing system or another apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited. Atypical combination of hardware and software can be a processing system with computer-usable program code that, when being loaded and executed, controls the processing system such that it carries out the methods described herein. The systems, components and/or processes also can be embedded in a computer-readable storage, such as a computer program product or other data programs storage device, readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform methods and processes described herein. These elements also can be embedded in an application product which comprises the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein and, which when loaded in a processing system, is able to carry out these methods.
Furthermore, arrangements described herein may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodied, e.g., stored, thereon. Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be utilized. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. The phrase “computer-readable storage medium” means a non-transitory storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium would include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), a ROM, an EPROM or flash memory, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Generally, modules as used herein include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement particular data types. In further aspects, a memory generally stores the noted modules. The memory associated with a module may be a buffer or cache embedded within a processor, a RAM, a ROM, a flash memory, or another suitable electronic storage medium. In still further aspects, a module as envisioned by the present disclosure is implemented as an ASIC, a hardware component of a system on a chip (SoC), as a programmable logic array (PLA), or as another suitable hardware component that is embedded with a defined configuration set (e.g., instructions) for performing the disclosed functions.
Program code embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber, cable, radio frequency (RF), etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present arrangements may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language such as Java™, Smalltalk, C++, Python, or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
As used herein, the terms “comprise” and “include” and their variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in succession or a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that may also be useful in the devices and methods of this technology. Similarly, the terms “can” and “may” and their variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation that a form or variation can or may comprise certain elements or features does not exclude other forms or variations of the present technology that do not contain those elements or features.
The broad teachings of the present disclosure can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the specification and the following claims. Reference herein to one variation, or various variations means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with a form or variation, or particular system is included in at least one variation or form. The appearances of the phrase “in one variation” (or variations thereof) are not necessarily referring to the same variation or form. It should also be understood that the various method steps discussed herein do not have to be carried out in the same order as depicted, and not each method step is required in each variation or form.
The foregoing description of the forms and variations has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular form or variation are generally not limited to that particular form or variation, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected form or variation, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations should not be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/603,828, filed Nov. 19, 2023, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63603828 | Nov 2023 | US |
