High altitude payload structures and related methods

#The present application is related to and claims the benefit of the earliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listed application(s) (the “Related Applications”) (e.g., claims earliest available priority dates for other than provisional patent applications or claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patent applications, for any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the Related Application(s)).

#1. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation in part of currently co-pending United States patent application entitled HIGH ALTITUDE STRUCTURES AND RELATED METHODS, naming Alistair K. Chan, Roderick A. Hyde, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., and Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, as inventors, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/788,389, filed contemporaneously herewith.

#2. For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation in part of currently co-pending United States patent application entitled HIGH ALTITUDE STRUCTURES CONTROL SYSTEM AND RELATED METHODS, naming Alistair K. Chan, Roderick A. Hyde, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., and Clarence T. Tegreene as inventors, as inventors, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/788,372, filed contemporaneously herewith.

#The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description, of which:

#FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a generalized high altitude conduit.

#FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a cross sectional configuration of a high-altitude conduit.

#In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the art has progressed to the point where there is little distinction left between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; the use of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software can become significant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles by which the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies described herein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that optical aspects of implementations will typically employ optically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

#The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, several portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearing medium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable type medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory, etc.; and a transmission type medium such as a digital and/or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

#Referring now to FIG. 1, a high-altitude structure 100 is depicted. High altitude structure 100 includes but is not limited to any of a variety of materials which may be relatively lightweight, strong, and be capable of standing aloft in a variety of atmospheric, weather-related, and heating conditions. Further, structure 100 may be capable of being applied in a variety of environments and for a variety of applications. Structure 100 may be used in a variety of ways including as a supporting structure for equipment, such as but not limited to antenna 110, as a vent for exhaust gases 120, or as a particulate or gas introducer, or the like. In the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, structure 100 is an approximately cylindrical shape forming an elongated cannula having an exterior wall 130 surrounding an interior wall 140. In a particular exemplary embodiment a void 150 may be formed between exterior wall 130 and interior wall 140. The structure may be supported by introducing a gas into void 150 which may be lighter than the ambient air surrounding the structure. Gas introduced into void 150 may come from any of a variety of sources. In a particular exemplary embodiment, gas may come from a manufacturing facility 160 where gas may be manufactured for the purpose of supporting conduit 150 or the gas may be exhaust gasses from a manufacturing process at facility 160. In accordance with alternative embodiments, the structure of the voids and conduits may vary and may include any number of and combination of voids and conduits. Also, material flow in the voids and conduits may be controlled. In an alternative embodiment, there may be interconnections between the voids and conduits such that material flow may be created between the voids and conduits and/or between voids and/or between conduits. Although specific shapes, cross sections, and relative dimensions of the voids and conduits are depicted, the embodiments are not limited but may be made in any of a variety of shapes, cross sections, and relative dimensions. Further, the shapes, sizes, materials, relative dimensions, etc., may vary by location on the structure or alternatively may be varied in time. In an exemplary embodiment, the material flow may come from any of a variety of sources, including but not limited to a reservoir, a storage container, the atmosphere, an exhaust or waste material flow, etc.