Appeal No. 2004-2159
Application No. 09/819,943
being able to be actuated to add heat to the surface of the
substrate thermally coupled to the interior of the vessel,
and
a sensor mounted on said substrate in proximity to said heater
such that discrete elevations of the interior of the vessel
are thermally coupled to corresponding longitudinal portions
of said sensor to generate an electrical signal defining a
temperature signal, said correspondence being incrementally
continuous such that the elevations corresponding to said
portions of said sensor increase from one to the other of
the ends of said sensor, said sensor being able to be
actuated to detect the temperature in the vessel in
proximity to the sensor indicative of the temperature
detected by said sensor, said sensor having a vertical
dimension sufficiently large such that said temperature
signal will vary in proportion to said longitudinal portion
of said sensor thermally coupled to the liquid;
a processor electrically connected to said sensor for receiving
said temperature signal after actuation of said heater, said
processor being programmed to use said temperature signal to
calculate the elevation of the upper surface of the liquid
in the vessel thereby to generate an electrical signal
defining an elevation signal indicative of the elevation of
the liquid upper surface relative to the lower end of said
sensor;
an interface electrically connected to said processor for
receiving said elevation signal for use as the basis for
communicating to the user the elevation of the liquid upper
surface; and
a power supply electrically connected to said heater, sensor,
processor, and interface, and wherein said sensor comprises
a variable resistance means wherein the resistance to
electrical conductivity of said sensor varies in proportion
to the temperature detected by it, said temperature signal
being of a magnitude proportional to the magnitude of the
resistance, said programming of said processor comprising
using said temperature signal to measure said resistance of
said sensor, said programming further comprising using said
resistance to calculate the elevation of the upper surface
of the liquid.
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