Background technology
Along with the high speed development of infotech, global position system GPS (Global Positioning System) and high resolving power are taken photo by plane the application of sensor in aeroplane photography, photogrammetric measurement technology is had great development, becomes the novel practical technology that integrates remote sensing, remote control, telemetry and computer technology.After entering 21 century, this technology is progressively applied to civilian and industrial circle from military field especially, and the concept of " digitalized city " and " the digitizing earth " that propose in the recent period, this technology proceeds to civilian imbody just.
Photogrammetric measurement technology is exactly carry out digitizing, two-dimentional three-dimensional process to the Aerial Images gathered in flight course, obtains spatial information or the status information of various terrain object, to meet the information requirement of people to various embody rule.Now, photogrammetric measurement technology applies many aspects such as ten military affairs, Disaster Assessment, ecological Studies, communications and transportation, mapping, city planning widely; In electric system, photogrammetric measurement technology also starts to be applied, and wherein polling transmission line is an important application direction.
Transmission line of electricity is responsible for the important duty of electric power transfer, is the basic work effectively ensureing transmission line of electricity and equipment safety operation thereof to the regular visit of transmission line of electricity.Along with China's rapid development of economy, UHV (ultra-high voltage), Large Copacity, long distance transmission line are built more and more, existing electric transmission line channel resource becomes and is becoming tight day, and transmission line of electricity is more and more away from city and main traffic artery, and the geographical environment that line corridor passes through is more complicated.The operating type that Traditional Man is patrolled and examined, is more and more subject to the restriction of natural conditions, cannot meet actual needs.Adopt helicopter polling transmission line mode to have efficiently, quick, reliable, cost is low, not by advantages such as regional impacts, become the important way of China's polling transmission line.The Main way that " it is main that helicopter is maked an inspection tour, and manual patrol is auxiliary " is the current high pressure of China, supertension line is patrolled and examined.
Long-play finds to there is a lot of potential safety hazard, that is:
(1) in daily helicopter routing inspection work, the working method of helicopter routing inspection mainly contains: range estimation, observation of use instrument and instrument automatically detect and combine, main working method is range estimation, comprise and observing by telescope, or watch afterwards photography, shooting record image to judge line fault and hidden danger, obviously, this mode efficiency is low, affect greatly by subjective and objective factor, measuring accuracy is difficult to guarantee, and be auxiliary owing to being manual patrol, the automaticity detected is reduced greatly;
(2) in order to protect the personal safety of the personnel of taking photo by plane, the distance between general helicopter and electric wire generally has 20 ~ 30 meters far away, and distance so far away increases camera undoubtedly and measures the difficulty of taking photo by plane between object, can have influence on the sharpness of image sometimes;
(3) for adopt the image of helicopter aerial photography be all generally taken photo by plane by camera after be stored in certain storer, then by video recording research afterwards, doubt region is analyzed, in order to ensure that accuracy also needs secondary even repeatedly to take sometimes, add testing expenses undoubtedly;
(4) in helicopter routing inspection process, the image information that circuit patrolled and examined in the equipment records such as visible ray digital camera, camcorder and infrared thermography can be carried, these image informations contain essential characteristic and the running status of transmission line of electricity, do not have the function of real-time analysis;
(5) adopt helicopter routing inspection to adopt the risk of range estimation mode itself very high, easily the accidents such as the person or hardware occur; Add the danger of test;
(6) due to the singularity of helicopter routing inspection, the distortion that Aerial Images occurs in imaging process, fuzzy, distortion or be mixed into noise, cause the decline of picture quality, this makes the process in later stage bother very much;
(7) due to the replacement in the four seasons in 1 year, the physical environment in transmission of electricity corridor and landforms are constantly changed, the various images gathered are along with the change of environment, background becomes very complicated, contrast reduces, target jamming increases, simultaneously, other natural features, also the complexity of image background is made to deepen further with culture, make the extraction of target under complicated nature background owing to not having implementation and identify very difficult, the Objective extraction under complex environment is a technical problem underlying measuring of present Helicopter System and bottleneck;
(8) need the device category of monitoring a lot of in polling transmission line, the type of fault is also varied, so, need analyze according to video recording and calculate distinct device and fault type in later stage diagnostic procedure, and according to number location of fault as roughly estimated, then adopt artificial visually examine's secondary to determine.
Summary of the invention
For the problems referred to above, the object of this invention is to provide a kind of unmanned plane UAV automatic control system, solve the limitation of " it is main that helicopter is maked an inspection tour, and manual patrol is auxiliary " high-voltage maintenance in prior art.
For solving the problems of the technologies described above, the technical scheme that the present invention adopts is: provide a kind of unmanned plane UAV automatic control system, it is characterized in that, comprise processor unit, controller, first motor, second motor, 3rd motor, 4th motor, signal processor and unmanned plane, described processor unit sends and controls signal to described controller, by described controller, control signal is divided into the first drive singal, second drive singal, 3rd drive singal and four-wheel drive signal, the first described drive singal, second drive singal, 3rd drive singal and four-wheel drive signal control the first described motor respectively, second motor, 3rd motor and the 4th motor, wherein, by the first described motor, second motor, first drive singal of the 3rd motor and the 4th motor, second drive singal, 3rd drive singal and four-wheel drive signal are after signal processor synthesis, control the motion of unmanned plane.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described processor unit is a dual core processor, comprise dsp processor, FPGA processor and be located at the master system of dsp processor and FPGA processor, kinetic control system and terrestrial wireless apparatus module, described master system comprises human-computer interface module, GPS locating module and online output module, described kinetic control system comprises multiple-axis servo control module, data acquisition memory module and I/O control module, described terrestrial wireless apparatus module and the communication of multiple-axis servo control module, wherein, dsp processor is for controlling human-computer interface module, GPS locating module, online output module, data acquisition memory module, I/O control module and terrestrial wireless apparatus module, FPGA processor is for controlling multiple-axis servo control module, and carry out exchanges data in real time and call between dsp processor and FPGA processor.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described unmanned plane UAV automatic control system also comprises battery, described battery is connected with the output terminal of the first motor and the 4th motor further, and processor unit is connected to the tie point of tie point and the 4th between motor output end and battery between the first motor output end and battery further respectively.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described battery is connected with the output terminal of the second motor and the 3rd motor further, and processor unit is connected to the tie point of tie point and the 3rd between motor output end and battery between the second motor output end and battery further respectively.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described multiple-axis servo control module also comprises modular converter, and described modular converter comprises analog-digital converter and digital analog converter.
Whether in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described multiple-axis servo control module also comprises coder module, and described coder module, for detecting the actual speed of unmanned plane, judges whether to meet rate request, too fast or excessively slow, and sends control signal.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described multiple-axis servo control module also comprises current module, and described current module reaches the scope of unmanned plane needs for the output power adjusting battery.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described multiple-axis servo control module also comprises acceleration module, described acceleration module is connected with coder module communication, when coder module detection unmanned plane actual speed is too fast or excessively slow, acceleration module regulates unmanned plane actual speed according to the result that coder module detects.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described multiple-axis servo control module also comprises displacement module, and whether described displacement module arrives set displacement for detecting unmanned plane, if from set excessively away from, send assisted instruction to controller; If close to set displacement excessively, then send deceleration instruction to controller.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, described multiple-axis servo control module also comprises altitude module, and whether described altitude module reaches intended height for detecting unmanned plane, if from set too low, send increase instruction to controller; If from set too high, then send and reduce instruction to controller.
Unmanned plane UAV automatic control system of the present invention, in order to improve arithmetic speed, ensure stability and the reliability of unmanned plane UAV control system, the present invention introduces FPGA processor in the dsp processor of monolithic, form the dual core processor based on DSP+FPGA, and given up the structure that traditional unmanned plane adopts oil-burning machine, and take into full account the effect of battery in this system, realize the function of Single Controller synchro control four motors, the process of FPGA processor is given multiple-axis servo control module maximum for workload in unmanned plane UAV control system, give full play to FPGA processor data processing speed feature faster, and human-computer interface module, GPS locating module, online output module, data acquisition memory module, the functions such as I/O control module and terrestrial wireless apparatus module are given dsp processor and are controlled, so just achieve the division of labor of dsp processor and FPGA processor, dsp processor is freed from hard work amount, to break in prior art that " it is main that helicopter is maked an inspection tour, manual patrol is auxiliary " limitation of high-voltage maintenance.
Embodiment
Below in conjunction with accompanying drawing, preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail, can be easier to make advantages and features of the invention be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art, thus more explicit defining is made to protection scope of the present invention.
Along with development and the maturation of microelectric technique and Automated library system chip fabrication techniques, dsp processor, due to its computing power fast, is not only widely used in communication and video frequency signal processing, is also applied in gradually in various senior control system.The ADSP-21xx series of AD company provides low cost, low-power consumption, high performance processing power and solution, and ADSP-2188 instruction execution speed wherein, up to 75MIPS, adds independently ALU, has powerful digital signal processing capability.In addition, jumbo RAM is integrated in this chip, greatly can design by peripheral circuits, reduce system cost and system complexity, also substantially increase the stores processor ability of data.
Hardware Implementation based on the FPGA processor of field programmable gate array and the EDA technology of modern electronic design robotization has occurred a kind of brand-new design philosophy recent years.Although FPGA processor itself is the cell array of standard, there is no the function that general integrated circuit has, but user can according to the design needs of oneself, by specific placement-and-routing instrument, connection is reconfigured to its inside, within the shortest time, design the special IC of oneself, so just reduce cost, shorten the construction cycle.Because FPGA processor adopts the design philosophy of software implementation to realize the design of hardware circuit, so just the system based on FPGA CPU design is made to have good reusable and amendment property, this brand-new design philosophy has been applied on high performance interchange drived control gradually, and fast-developing.
As shown in Figure 2, be the block scheme of the unmanned plane UAV automatic control system of present pre-ferred embodiments.In the present embodiment, unmanned plane UAV automatic control system comprises battery, processing unit, controller, the first motor, the second motor, the 3rd motor, the 4th motor, signal processor and unmanned plane.Wherein, described battery is lithium ion battery, is a kind of electric supply installation, for the work of whole system provides operating voltage.Described battery is connected with the output terminal of the first motor and the 4th motor further, and processor unit is connected to the tie point of tie point and the 4th between motor output end and battery between the first motor output end and battery further respectively; Described battery is connected with the output terminal of the second motor and the 3rd motor further, and processor unit is connected to the tie point of tie point and the 3rd between motor output end and battery between the second motor output end and battery further respectively.
The built-in control system of processor unit described in the present invention and control circuit, described processor unit sends and controls signal to described controller, by described controller, control signal is divided into the first drive singal, second drive singal, 3rd drive singal and four-wheel drive signal, the first described drive singal, second drive singal, 3rd drive singal and four-wheel drive signal control the first described motor respectively, second motor, 3rd motor and the 4th motor, wherein, by the first described motor, second motor, first drive singal of the 3rd motor and the 4th motor, second drive singal, 3rd drive singal and four-wheel drive signal are after signal processor synthesis, control the motion of unmanned plane.
The present invention is that the dsp processor overcoming monolithic in prior art can not meet the stability of unmanned plane UAV automatic control system and the requirement of rapidity, given up unmanned plane UAV automatic control system adopt the mode of operation of the dsp processor of monolithic, provide the brand-new control model based on DSP+FPGA processor.Processor unit with FPGA processor for process core, realize the real-time process of digital signal, dsp processor is freed in the middle of the work of complexity, realize the signal processing algorithm of part and the steering logic of FPGA processor, and response is interrupted, realize data communication and store live signal.
Refer to Fig. 2, described processor unit is a dual core processor, and it comprises dsp processor and FPGA processor, and the two can communication mutually, carries out exchanges data in real time and calls.Described processor unit also comprises the master system being located at dsp processor and FPGA processor, kinetic control system and terrestrial wireless apparatus module, described master system comprises human-computer interface module, GPS locating module and online output module, described kinetic control system comprises multiple-axis servo control module, data acquisition memory module and I/O control module, described terrestrial wireless apparatus module and the communication of multiple-axis servo control module, wherein, dsp processor is for controlling human-computer interface module, GPS locating module, online output module, data acquisition memory module, I/O control module and terrestrial wireless apparatus module, FPGA processor is for controlling multiple-axis servo control module.
Master system comprises human-computer interface module, GPS locating module and online output module.Human-computer interface module comprises and starts/restart button and function selecting key; GPS locating module is for locating position and the optimum configurations of high-voltage maintenance; Online output module module, for pointing out the duty of unmanned plane, is such as in the unmanned plane course of work or the condition prompting that arrives at a station.
Kinetic control system comprises multiple-axis servo control module, data acquisition memory module and I/O control module.Wherein, data acquisition memory module module is a storer; I/O control module comprises RS-232 serial line interface, ICE port etc.Multiple-axis servo control module comprises modular converter, coder module, current module, acceleration module, displacement module and altitude module further.
Wherein, described modular converter comprises analog-digital converter (ADC, Analog to Digital Converter) and digital analog converter (DAC, Digital to Analog Converter); Whether described coder module, for detecting the actual speed of unmanned plane, judges whether to meet rate request, too fast or excessively slow, and sends control signal.
Described current module is connected with battery and controller, modular converter.Modular converter, according to the electric current of battery and controller, judges operating power, and power condition is fed back to battery, and current module reaches for the output power adjusting battery the scope that unmanned plane needs.
Described acceleration module is connected with coder module communication, and when coder module detection unmanned plane actual speed is too fast or excessively slow, acceleration module regulates the actual speed of unmanned plane according to the result that coder module detects.
Described displacement module detects unmanned plane and whether arrives set displacement, if from set excessively away from, send assisted instruction to controller; If close to set displacement excessively, then send deceleration instruction to controller.
Whether described altitude module reaches intended height for detecting unmanned plane, if from set too low, send increase instruction to controller; If from set too high, then send and reduce instruction to controller.
Be a dual core processor for processor unit, under power-on state, first worked by human-computer interface module, again according to real work needs, man-machine interface is selected the regional location of unmanned plane, unmanned plane gives actual motion transformation parameter to the dsp processor in processor unit, with the communication of FPGA processor after dsp processor process, then by the multiple-axis servo control module of FPGA processor process four motors, and process data communication to dsp processor, continue the follow-up running status of process by dsp processor.
Describe in conjunction with above, master system comprises the functions such as human-computer interface module, GPS locating module, online output module; Kinetic control system comprises the functions such as multiple-axis servo control module, data acquisition memory module, I/O control module; Described terrestrial wireless apparatus module and the communication of multiple-axis servo control module.The multiple-axis servo control module that wherein workload is maximum is given FPGA processor and is controlled, remaining comprises master system and wireless device module gives dsp processor control, so just achieve the division of labor of dsp processor and FPGA processor, therebetween also can carry out communication simultaneously, carry out exchanges data in real time and call.
Refer to Fig. 3, the functional realiey that in the present invention, unmanned plane UAV automatic control system is concrete is as follows:
1) before unmanned plane does not receive any instruction, its generally can and pure helicopter as broad as long, be fixed on some regions, after holding electricity, can directly enter vertical displacement movement self-locking state, the instruction of wait terrestrial wireless control tower always or airborne lifting order;
2) after unmanned plane receives rising or reduction instruction, first power conditions will be judged, if power supply is abnormal, interrupt request will be sent to dsp processor, dsp processor can do very first time response to interruption, the process if the interrupt response of dsp processor is not able to do in time, four motors on unmanned plane will by self-locking, and unmanned plane is in stop motion state;
3) after unmanned plane receives flight directive, if power supply is normal, unmanned plane will carry out normal lift motions, controller is exported by PWM increases by four rotor motor M 1 simultaneously, M2, M3, the output power of M4, and ensure that four rotors are in a plane, gyroplane rotate speed increases thereupon, sum total pulling force u=f1+f2+f3+f4 is made to increase and unmanned plane self gravitation mg can be overcome, as u-mg>0, then unmanned plane upwards vertically raises, the pressure transducer of decision height is by work, when entering near preset height, exported by PWM and slowly reduce four rotor motor M 1 simultaneously, M2, M3, the output power of M4, sum total pulling force u=f1+f2+f3+f4 is reduced, as u – mg=0, then lock the power of each motor current, aircraft enters rectilinear flight state, and open aerial device, prepare to pass shooting image earthward back in real time,
4) when unmanned plane receives terrestrial wireless reduction altitude request in rectilinear flight state, controller is exported can be reduced four rotor motor M 1 simultaneously by PWM, M2, M3, the output power of M4, and ensure that four rotors are in a plane, now gyroplane rotate speed reduces thereupon, sum total pulling force u=f1+f2+f3+f4 is also reduced thereupon, as u-mg<0, then unmanned plane does vertical landing flight downwards, now the pressure transducer of decision height is by work, when entering preset height, exported by PWM and slowly increase by four rotor motor M 1 simultaneously, M2, M3, the output power of M4, sum total pulling force u=f1+f2+f3+f4 is increased, as u – mg=0, then lock the power of each motor current, aircraft enters rectilinear flight state, and open aerial device, prepare to pass shooting image earthward back in real time,
5) when control M3 motor speed increases, its pulling force f3 increases thereupon, control M1 motor speed reduces simultaneously, and its pulling force f1 reduces thereupon, keeps other gyroplane rotate speed constant, the difference of the pulling force f1 that the M1 motor that the pulling force f3 that M3 motor is produced is symmetrical with it produces is greater than zero, i.e. f3-f1>0, can make rotor thrust generation horizontal component forward, fuselage forward pitch rolls rolling, produce pitching angle theta, therefore can control the flight forward that flies;
6) when control M1 motor speed increases, its pulling force f1 increases thereupon, control M3 motor speed reduces simultaneously, and its pulling force f3 reduces thereupon, keeps other gyroplane rotate speed constant, the difference of the pulling force f3 that the M3 motor that the pulling force f1 that M1 motor is produced is symmetrical with it produces is greater than zero, i.e. f1 – f3>0, can make rotor thrust generation horizontal component backward, fuselage backward pitching rolls rolling, produce pitching angle theta, therefore can control flight and fly backward;
7) when M2 motor speed increases, its pulling force f2 increases thereupon, control M4 motor speed reduces simultaneously, and its pulling force f4 reduces thereupon, keeps other gyroplane rotate speed constant, the difference of the pulling force f4 that the M4 motor that the pulling force f2 that M2 motor is produced is symmetrical with it produces is greater than zero, i.e. f2-f4>0, rotor thrust can be made to produce horizontal component to the right, and fuselage rolls rolling to the right, produce side direction and roll roll angle φ, therefore can control the flare maneuver to the right that flies;
8) when M4 motor speed increases, its pulling force f4 increases thereupon, control M2 motor speed reduces simultaneously, and its pulling force f2 reduces thereupon, keeps other gyroplane rotate speed constant, the difference of the pulling force f2 that the M2 motor that the pulling force f4 that M4 motor is produced is symmetrical with it produces is greater than zero, i.e. f4 – f2>0, rotor thrust can be made to produce horizontal component left, and fuselage rolls rolling left, produce side direction and roll roll angle φ, therefore can control the flare maneuver left that flies;
9) in order to make unmanned plane desirably do the clockwise yawing rotation of level in direction, can control to make the rotating speed of M1 motor and M3 motor to increase, rising pulling force f1 and the f3 making it produce increases simultaneously, meanwhile, the rotating speed of control M2 motor and M4 motor reduces, rising pulling force f2 and the f4 making it produce reduces simultaneously, ensure that the skyborne four rotor sum total pulling force u of unmanned plane are equal with unmanned plane self gravitation mg, now can control unmanned plane and do the clockwise yawed flight action of level, otherwise, then control unmanned plane and do the counterclockwise yawed flight action of level;
10) in order to make unmanned plane desirably do counterclockwise yawing rotation in direction, can control to make the rotating speed of M2 motor and M4 motor to increase, rising pulling force f2 and the f4 making it produce increases simultaneously, meanwhile, the rotating speed of control M1 motor and M3 motor reduces, rising pulling force f1 and the f3 making it produce reduces simultaneously, ensures that the skyborne four rotor sum total pulling force u of unmanned plane are equal with unmanned plane self gravitation mg, now can control unmanned plane and make the counterclockwise flare maneuver of level;
11) regulate four rotor motor M 1 by controller, rising pulling force f1, f2, f3, f4 that M2, M3, M4 produce and resultant moment T make it the control that acting in conjunction can realize each rotor rotor velocity amount on this unmanned plane, thus can control the various attitudes of unmanned plane and realize circular motion;
12) this unmanned plane adds dust humidity detection system, this dust humidity detection system is made up of a few parts such as moisture sensor, metering circuit and pen recorders, complete the functions such as acquisition of information, conversion and process respectively, like this when unmanned plane enters in the higher environment of humidity, dust humidity detection system can work, if when finding improper work, automatically will make a return voyage, effectively protect unmanned plane; 13) this unmanned plane is equipped with multiple warning system, side system is visited by unmanned plane obstacle, automatically hovered before colliding barrier, and always outstandingly fly in current location, and judge be diversion or make a return voyage according to the character of barrier, this ensures that there its adaptation to surrounding environment in motion process, decrease the interference of environment to it.
The beneficial effect that unmanned plane UAV automatic control system of the present invention has is:
1: adopt Speed Regulation Systems of BLDCM to instead of common DC motor governing system, such that the volume of control system is less, weight is lighter, it is larger to exert oneself, start and braking ability better;
2: in control procedure, take into full account lithium ion battery effect in this system, based on the DSP+FPGA processor moment all to the running status of lithium ion battery with parameter is monitored and computing, when finding that energy can notify terrestrial wireless device when finishing the work not and automatically make a return voyage, ensure that the safety of unmanned plane;
3: is that unmanned plane cruises due to what adopt, this makes unmanned plane can be maximum close to hi-line, can not produce the problems such as human injury;
4: is that unmanned plane cruises due to what adopt, this makes unmanned plane can be maximum close to hi-line, and physical environment and the landforms change in the corridor that makes to transmit electricity reduce greatly to the interference of various collection image;
5: this unmanned plane in order to high-voltage maintenance design, so add high-precision GPS positioning system, as long as the position inputting each control tower at the initial stage of executing the task just can automatic running on transmisson line;
6: in order to improve the sharpness that UAV automatic control system is taken photo by plane, add high definition aerial device;
7: by the full Digitized Servo Control of FPGA processor process four motors, substantially increase arithmetic speed, the processor solving the DSP of monolithic runs slower bottleneck, shorten the construction cycle short, and program transportability ability is strong;
8: fully achieve veneer and control, not only save control panel and take up room, but also fully achieve the synchronous of multi-axle motor control signal, be conducive to the stability and the dynamic property that improve unmanned plane;
9: the data a large amount of due to the process of employing FPGA processor and algorithm, and taken into full account the interference of high-voltage power supply to system, and dsp processor is freed from hard work amount, effectively prevent " race flies " of system, antijamming capability strengthens greatly;
10: the navigation of this unmanned plane mainly relies on gps signal, but gps signal is easily interfered, and be difficult to receive signal in the environment such as indoor, develop the SUAV (small unmanned aerial vehicle) navigational system of view-based access control model navigation thus, after gps signal is interfered, terrestrial wireless apparatus module will be had to control its navigation according to transmitting picture transmission navigation instruction in good time;
11: this unmanned plane adds function of automatically hovering, when unmanned plane run into emergency condition receive terrestrial wireless change task requests time, controller can send original place cutoff command, and the state of rapid current four motors of adjustment, makes unmanned plane hover over current state;
12: due to employing is that unmanned plane cruises and passes control interface back in good time, then process in time and failure judgement if unmanned plane can be allowed when ground control tower finds that there is doubtful situations to hover;
13: this unmanned plane can also add dust humidity detection system, this dust humidity detection system is made up of a few parts such as moisture sensor, metering circuit and pen recorders, complete the functions such as acquisition of information, conversion and process respectively, like this when unmanned plane enters in the higher environment of humidity, dust humidity detection system can work, if when finding improper work, automatically will make a return voyage, effectively protect unmanned plane;
14: this unmanned plane can also equip multiple warning system, by unmanned plane obstacle detection system, automatically hovered before colliding barrier, and always outstandingly fly in current location, and judge be diversion or make a return voyage according to the character of barrier, this ensures that there the adaptation to surrounding environment in motion process, decrease the interference of environment to it.
The foregoing is only embodiments of the invention; not thereby the scope of the claims of the present invention is limited; every utilize instructions of the present invention and accompanying drawing content to do equivalent structure or equivalent flow process conversion; or be directly or indirectly used in other relevant technical fields, be all in like manner included in scope of patent protection of the present invention.