Abstract: A method for spray forming a metal component (11, 17, 21, 27) having an elongated open channel (10, 20, 22, 28) therein comprises firstly spray forming a layer (8, 19, 24) of the desired metal onto a deposition substrate (2), placing then an elongated spray blocking object (9, 18, 26, 29) on the already sprayed layer for forming the channel, and continuing then the spray forming process until the desired total thickness of the component is achieved. According to the present invention, the spray blocking object is a strip (18, 26, 29), the cross-sectional profile of the strip being fully open in the direction of an axis (a) in a cross-sectional plane of the strip, and the strip is placed on the already deposited layer (8, 19, 24) with said axis directed substantially parallel to the direction of the incident metal spray (6).

Abstract: A method for manufacturing metal components (9) by spray forming comprises depositing by spray forming a first layer (8) of a first metal on a mould, and depositing by spray forming a second layer (10) of a second metal on the first layer, wherein the materials to be deposited and the process conditions of the deposition are selected to produce the microstructure of the first layer (8) being optimised for the final use of the first layer surface (7) defined by the mould (2) on which the first layer is deposited, and the microstructure of the second layer (10) differing from that of the first layer and being optimised for the further actions to be performed to the second layer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improved digital recording and presentation of broadcast information is disclosed. Received broadcast data, which may include video, audio, private, or other data, relating to one or more particular content programs, is presented from an input section to a buffer and recorded directly onto a storage device without any intelligent parsing, such as indexing, and without any manipulation by intermediate hardware or software functions. Upon normal presentation, statistics are generated to determine the ideal number of frames to skip, the number of bytes to seek, and the size of data files to read from storage during time-shifted presentation. Algorithms and processes are provided to dynamically optimize time-shifted presentation. In this way, data may be captured to the storage device more efficiently and economically, and the time-shifted presentation operations can easily be performed in a smoother, more nuanced manner with the application of appropriate probabilistic algorithms.