SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LAYING BUILDING COMPONENT FACING MEMBERS

TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system for laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns, a method of laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns and a method of manufacturing a grid for a system for laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns. Some relate to a system for laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns, a method of laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns and a method of manufacturing a grid for a system for laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns in the construction industry.

BACKGROUND

Building component facing members, such as brick facing members, tile facing members, amongst others, can been used to produce construction panels which have a fagade. For example, the front of the construction panels have a layer of building component facing members forming the fagade, which are mounted on a backing of cementitious material. The building component facing members, also sometimes referred to as slips, are relatively thin and can be formed by cutting conventional building components into layers of required thickness. Alternatively, the building component facing members can be formed as slips to avoid the need for cutting. Typically, stretcher slips, header slips and closer slips are cut/formed to use for various bond patterns. Example bond patterns include but are not limited to stretcher bond pattern, header bond pattern and solider bond pattern. To lay out the building component facing members in the required bond pattern a grid is used, which is formed of multiple tiles. The multiple tiles have markings on, for instance each tile may have markings which set out a grid of squares. The squares of the tiles may also have markings cut into them to aid with the alignment of the building component facing members. In some circumstances it can be difficult to use this grid when trying to align building component facing members in a pattern, as sometimes it is required to use a marking on a square within a tile that is not in the same location as a building component facing member.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments there is provided a system for laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns, comprising: building component facing members with dimensions based on a template building component; a grid comprising one or more tiles, each tile comprising one or more zigzag grooves, wherein the horizontal straight sections and the vertical straight sections of the one or more zigzag grooves are perpendicular, wherein zig-zag grooves are nonintersecting; wherein the grid is dimensioned so that the one or more zigzag grooves of each tile provide reference points to enable laying out of and alignment of the building component facing members in one or more bond patterns.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the building component facing members comprise header building component facing members and/or stretcher building component facing members and/or closer building component facing members.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the tiles are arranged in the grid with a predetermined gap between adjacent tiles which is the same width as the straight sections of the one or more zigzag grooves.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the width of the straight sections of the one or more zigzag grooves and the width of the gaps between adjacent tiles is equal to a predetermined width for joints between the building component facing members in the bond patterns.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the one or more tiles are square.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the edges of each square tile provide reference points for laying out of and alignment of the building component facing members in the one or more bond patterns.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, for each tile with multiple zigzag grooves, some of the zigzag grooves start from a first edge of the tile and end on a second edge of the tile, wherein the first edge and the second edge form a first corner; wherein the remaining zigzag grooves of the tile start from a third edge of the tile and end on a fourth edge of the tile, wherein the third edge and the fourth edge form a second corner; wherein the first corner and the second corner are diagonally opposite corners on the tile.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, for each tile, three zigzag grooves start on the first edge and end on the second edge; wherein two other zigzag grooves start on the third edge and end on the fourth edge.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, at least some (and in some examples all) paths followed by the zigzag grooves in one tile align with paths followed by the zigzag grooves in another tile, wherein the gaps between adjacent tiles join the paths of the zigzag grooves.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the tiles are the same length as the length of the stretcher building component facing members.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the lengths of the straight sections of the one or more zigzag grooves are provided so that a corner point of the zigzag grooves can be aligned with the midpoint of the width of a header building component facing member when the header building component facing member is aligned with at least one edge of a tile.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, three stretcher building component facing members are aligned on a tile to form a soldier bond pattern.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, stretcher building component facing members are used to form a stretcher bond pattern, and wherein header building component facing members and/or closer building component facing members are used to form the stretcher bond pattern with each tile being used to layout and align 3 rows or columns of building component facing members.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, header building component facing members are used to form a header bond pattern, with each tile being used to layout and align 3 rows or columns of building component facing members.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, closer building component facing members are used to form the header bond pattern.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the straight sections of the one or more zigzag grooves have a constant width.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments there is provided a method of laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns, comprising: providing a grid comprising one or more tiles, each tile comprising one or more zigzag grooves, wherein the horizontal straight sections and the vertical straight sections of the one or more zigzag grooves are perpendicular, wherein the zigzag grooves are non-intersecting; placing building component facing members on the grid to form one or more of the bond patterns by using the one or more zigzag grooves as reference points to layout and align the building component facing members in one or more bond patterns; wherein the building component facing members have dimensions based on a template building component. In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the building component facing members comprise header building component facing members and/or stretcher building component facing members and/or closer building component facing members.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, placing the building component facing members to form a solider bond pattern comprises aligning three stretcher building component facing members on each tile, wherein the length of the stretcher building component facing members is the length of each tile.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, placing the building component facing members to form a stretcher bond pattern comprises placing three rows or columns of building component facing members on each tile, the building component facing members comprising stretcher building component facing members; the building component facing members additionally comprising header building component facing members and/or closer building component facing members.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, placing the building component facing members to form a header bond pattern comprises placing three rows or columns of building component facing members on each tile, the building component facing members comprising at least header building component facing members.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments there is provided a method of manufacturing a grid for a system for laying building component facing members in one or more bond patterns, comprising: providing a surface; using a CNC machine to cut zigzag grooves into the surface, wherein the horizontal straight sections and the vertical straight sections of the zigzag grooves are perpendicular, wherein the zigzag grooves are non-intersecting; using the CNC machine to cut the surface into multiple tiles.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, some of the zigzag grooves start from a first edge of the surface and end on a second edge of the surface, wherein the first edge and the second edge form a first corner; wherein the remaining zigzag grooves start from a third edge of the surface and end on a fourth edge of the surface, wherein the third edge and the fourth edge form a second corner; wherein the first corner and the second corner are diagonally opposite corners on the surface.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the gaps cut between adjacent tiles are the same width as the width of the zigzag grooves.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the straight sections of the zigzag grooves have a constant width.

In some, but not necessarily all, examples, the horizontal straight sections of the zigzag grooves are the same length; wherein the vertical straight sections of the zigzag grooves are the same length.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments there is provided examples as claimed in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Some examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 2 shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3A shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3B shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3C shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 4 shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 5 shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 6 shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 7 shows an example of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 8 shows an example of the subject matter described herein DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The FIGS illustrate examples of a system 1 for laying building component facing members 200 in one or more bond patterns 300.

The system 1 comprises a grid 100 comprising one or more tiles 110, each having one or more zigzag grooves 120, (an example of which is shown in FIG. 1) and building component facing members 200 with dimensions based on a template building component (examples of which are shown in FIG. 2), the grid 100 aiding in the laying out of and alignment of the building component facing members 200 in one or more bond patterns 300.

In the FIGS, to distinguish between separate tiles 110 in the grid 100, prime symbols (“ ’ ”) are used e.g., 110’, 110”, etc. This should not be understood to imply that the separate tiles are unalike.

In the FIGS, to distinguish between zigzag grooves 120 in separate tiles 110, prime symbols (“ ’ ”) are used e.g., 120’, 120”, etc. This should not be understood to imply that the zigzag grooves in separate tiles are unalike.

The horizontal straight sections 122 and the vertical straight sections 124, having a corner point 126 therebetween, of the one or more zigzag grooves are perpendicular, i.e. , the corner point 126 is a 90 arcdegree turn (for clarity of illustration, these are only referenced in FIG. 4, which shows a single tile 110 in isolation from the rest of the grid 100). In the examples shown in the FIGS, the zigzag grooves are non-intersecting.

The grid 100 is dimensioned so that the one or more zigzag grooves 120 of each tile 110 provide reference points to enable laying out of and alignment of the building component facing members 200 in one or more bond patterns 300.

The tiles 110 are arranged in the grid 100 with a predetermined gap 150 between adjacent tiles 110 which is the same width as the straight sections 122, 124 of the one or more zigzag grooves 120. In these examples, adjacent tiles 110 are tiles 110 having a common border between at least two vertices of the grid 100 across which their respective edges face one another. In some examples of the grid 100, the terminal points of both of these edges coincide with the vertices of the grid.

The width of the straight sections 122, 124 of the one or more zigzag grooves 120 and the width of the gaps 150 between adjacent tiles 110 are set equal to a pre-determined width for joints between building component facing members 200 in the bond patterns 300. For example, grouting or another bonding material is used in the joint between the building component facing members 200 to provide a building component fagade, and has a predetermined width.

In the example of FIG. 1 the one or more tiles 110 are square and the edges 140, 142, 144, 146 of each square tile 110 can also provide reference points for the laying out of and alignment of the building component facing members 200 in the one or more bond patterns 300.

Some examples have multiple zigzag grooves 120 per tile 110, some of which start from a first edge 140 of the tile 110 and end on a second edge 142 of the tile 110 and the remaining others of which start from a third edge 144 of the tile 110 and end on a fourth edge 146 of the tile 110, where the first and second edges 140, 142 form a first corner 130 and the third and fourth edges 144, 146 form a second corner 132, the first and second corners 130, 132 being diagonally opposite corners of the tile 110.

In the example shown in FIG. 1 , three zigzag grooves 120 start on the first edge 140 and end on the second edge 142. Two other zigzag grooves 120 start on the third edge 144 and end on the fourth edge 146. In other examples the tiles 110 can comprise a different number of zigzag grooves 120, and can have a different number of zigzag grooves 120 starting on the first edge 140 and ending on the second edge 142, and can have a different number of zigzag grooves 120 which start on the third edge 144 and end on the fourth edge 146.

In some examples, at least some (and in some examples all) paths followed by the zigzag grooves 120 in one tile 110 are aligned with paths followed by the zigzag grooves 120’ in another tile 110’. The grid 100 comprises one or more regular zigzag patterns which continue across multiple tiles 110. The continuity of just such a regular zigzag pattern from a zigzag groove 120 of one tile 110 into a zigzag groove 120’ of another tile 110’ is provided by a portion of the gap 150 between those tiles 110, 110’. That is, the gaps 150 join the paths of the zigzag grooves 120 to form continuous, regular zigzag patterns across multiple tiles 110. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1 , the path followed by the zigzag groove 120 in a first tile 110 is aligned with the paths followed by zigzag grooves 120’, 120”, 120’”, 120”” in other tiles 110’, 110”, 110’”, 110”” to form a regular zigzag pattern continuing across tiles 110, 110’, 110”, 110’”, and 110””.

The repetition and alignment of the paths followed by the zigzag grooves 120 enables flexibility in terms of where the bond pattern 300 can be started and still enables alignment using reference points which are adjacent to the building component facing member 200 that is being aligned.

Examples of building component facing members 200 include header building component facing members 210, stretcher building component facing members 220, and closer building component facing members 230. Building component facing members 200 to be laid out in a bond pattern 300 can comprise: header building component facing members 210, stretcher building component facing members 220, closer building component facing members 230, or any combination thereof.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the building component facing members 200 include stretcher building component facing members 220 and closer building component facing members 230. These building component facing members 200 are shown laid out according to some examples of different bond patterns 300 which the grid 100 can provide suitable reference points for. For example, a horizontal stretcher bond pattern 310, a vertical stretcher bond pattern 320, and a solider bond pattern 330 are illustrated and will be described further in references to FIGS 3A to 3C below.

FIGS 3A to 3C illustrate examples of the system 1 with building component facing members 200 laid out and aligned on a grid 100 in a variety of different bond patterns 300. The grids 100 shown in the examples of FIGS 3A and 3B are the same and correspond to the grid 100 shown in FIG. 1 while the grid 100 shown in the example of FIG. 3C is different and corresponds to the grid 100 which will later be shown in the example of FIG. 8. The building component facing members 200 are depicted in dashed lines which trace their perimeters and diagonals and which overlay the grid 100, which is depicted in solid lines.

In these examples the tiles 110 are the same length as the length of the stretcher building component facing members 220. This means that stretcher building component facing members 220 can be aligned with the edges 140, 142, 144, 146 of the tiles 110. In at least some of the following examples, the header building component facing members 210 and the closer building component facing members 230 are interchangeable because the closer building component facing members 230 are cut to the same length as header building component facing members 210.

FIG. 3A illustrates the same three bond patterns 300 as shown in FIG. 2

As can be seen, the solider bond pattern 330 can be formed by aligning three stretcher building component facing members 220 on a tile 110. The width of straight sections 122, 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 can be used to align the stretcher building component facing members 220 so that the pre-determined gap for the joint (e.g., grouting or another bonding material) is provided between them. Stretcher building component facing members 220 adjacent to each other on adjacent tiles 110 are aligned using the gap 150 between adjacent tiles 110 to provide the pre-determined gap for the joint. In this example a pre-determined gap for the joints between the building component facing members 200 is dimensioned in accordance with the width of the building component facing members 200 so that the width of three stretcher building component facing members 220 or the width of three header building component facing members 210 or the width of three closer building component facing members 230 and two of the pre-determined gaps are the same length as the tile 110.

The tiles 110 can be dimensioned so that three rows or columns of a solider bond pattern 330 can be fitted on one tile 110. This is accomplished by dimensioning the tile 110 so that it matches the width of three building component facing members 200 and the widths of two of the pre-determined gaps for the joints between the building component facing members 200. As can be seen, the horizontal and vertical stretcher bond patterns 310, 320 are formed primarily by setting the stretcher building component facing members 220 in rows or columns. In the stretcher bond patterns 310, 320 neighboring rows or columns are offset from one another. This offset can be provided by inserting closer building component facing members 230 into the bond patterns at the end of the rows or columns, the closer building component facing members 230 having different lengths to the stretcher building component facing members 220. In some examples the desired offset may correspond to the length of a header building component facing member 210 and in such cases it may be possible to use the header building component facing members 210 in place of the closer building component facing members 230. As can be seen in FIG. 3A, the lengths of the straight sections 122, 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 are provided so that the corner point 126 of the zigzag groove 120 can be aligned with the midpoint 202 of a closer building component facing member 230 when the closer building component facing member 230 is aligned with at least one edge 140, 142, 144, 146 of a tile 110. For example, the midpoint 202 of a closer building component facing member 230 may be half way across the width of corner point 126 of the zigzag groove. The corner points 126 of the zigzag groove 120 are also used to align the midpoint 202 of the width of a stretcher building component facing member 220 when the stretcher building component facing member 220 spans across two tiles 110. This is accomplished by dimensioning the zigzag grooves 120 in accordance with the width of the building component facing members 200 so that the corner points 126 of the zigzag grooves 120 can align with the midpoint 302 of the width of the building component facing members 200.

For the horizontal stretcher bond pattern 310, each tile 110 is used to layout and align three rows of building component facing members 200. For the vertical stretcher bond pattern 320, each tile 110 is used to layout and align three columns of building component facing members 200.

FIG. 3B illustrates another stretcher bond pattern 340, the soldier bond pattern 330 and yet another stretcher bond pattern 350. In the stretcher bond pattern 350, there are several different types of closer building component facing members 230 with different lengths. FIG. 3C illustrates a header bond pattern 360, a Flemish bond pattern 370, and a Garden Wall bond pattern 380.

The header bond pattern 360 can, in some examples, be formed by aligning six header building component facing members 310 on a tile 110 in an arrangement of two columns and three rows. As with the stretcher bond patterns 310, 320, the corner points 126 of the zigzag grooves 120 can be used to align header building component facing members 210 when in the header bond pattern 360 by aligning a corner point 126 with the midpoint 202 of the width of the header building component facing members 210.

In some examples, closer building component facing members 230 can be used to form the header bond pattern 360 if they are the same dimensions as the header building component facing members 310.

The Flemish bond pattern 370 is formed from rows or columns in which stretcher building component facing members 220 are alternated with header building component facing members 210. The Garden Wall bond pattern 380 is formed from rows or columns in which a sequence of stretcher building component facing members 220 are alternated with header building component facing members 210. In the illustrated example a sequence of three stretcher building component facing members 220 is alternated with one header building component facing members 210, but other ratios of stretcher building component facing members 220 to header building component facing members 210 are possible. As with stretcher bond patterns, neighboring rows or columns in the Flemish bond pattern 370 and the Garden Wall bond pattern 380 are offset from one another. This offset can be provided by inserting closer building component facing members 230 into the bond patterns at the end of the rows or columns, the closer building component facing members 230 having different lengths to the header and stretcher building component facing members 210, 220. A variety of different lengths of closer building component facing members 230 may be used. The stretcher building component facing members 220, header building component facing members 210 and the closer building component facing members 230 are aligned by using the corner points 126 of the zigzag grooves 120, in particular by aligning a corner point 126 with the midpoint 202 of the width of the header building component facing members 210, and the midpoints of the stretcher building component members 220 and the closer building component facing members 230.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example tile 110. In this example and in other examples the width of the straight sections 122, 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 have constant width. The straight sections 122, 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 all have the same length. The straight sections are illustrated spanning between the dotted lines in FIG. 4.

The design of the tile 110 and the grid 100 provides freedom to choose a starting point for the selected bond pattern(s) 300. This can be done whilst still not affecting the alignment of the building component facing members 200 with the grid 100 as each building component facing member 200 will have a reference point, either provided by a corner point 126 of the zigzag groove 120, a straight section 122, 124 of the zigzag groove 120 or the gap 150 between tiles 110. The reference points are immediately adjacent in line of sight to the edges of the building component facing member 200. The assembler does not have to use a reference point which is in a different spatial position and not adjacent to the edges of the building component facing member 200 in line of sight.

The design of the tiles 110 in these examples also enables easier manufacture of the tiles compared to previous designs as will be described below.

The system 1 can be used with various different dimensions of building component facing members 200 based on different building component templates. Example building components include, but are not limited to: bricks, tiles. In some examples, where the building component are bricks, the dimensions of a standard UK brick can be used. The dimensions of the standard UK brick are 215mm in length, 102.5mm in depth and 65mm in width (or, as it might be viewed, height). The dimensions of the stretcher brick facing members is 215mm in length by 65mm in width and the dimensions of the header brick members are 102.5mm in length by 65mm in width. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the dimensions represented by arrows 400, 410 are 215mm in this example. The length represented by arrow 420 is 102.5mm. The length represented by arrow 430 is 65mm. The width of the straight sections 150 of the zigzag grooves 140, and correspondingly the gaps 150 not shown are 10mm in line with the standard width of a UK joint.

Accordingly, the third edge 144 and fourth edge 146 may be able to accommodate the widths of three stretcher brick facing members 220 or header brick facing members 210 with two 10mm joint gaps. Two header brick facing members 210 of dimensions 102.5mm can be placed at opposite edges of a square tile 110 and aligned with a straight section 122, 124 of a zigzag groove 120, the straight section 122, 124 providing the reference for a gap of 10mm between the header brick facing members 210.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method 500 of laying building component facing members 200 in one or more bond patterns 300. The method 500 comprises in a first block 510, providing a grid 100 comprising one or more tiles 110, each tile 110 comprising one or more zigzag grooves 120, wherein the horizontal straight sections 122 and the vertical straight sections 124 of the one or more zigzag grooves 120 are perpendicular, and wherein the zigzag grooves 120 are non-intersecting.

The method 500 comprises in a second block 520, placing building component facing members 200 on the grid 100 to form one or more of the bond patterns 300 by using the one or more zigzag grooves 120 as reference points to lay out and align the building component facing members 200 in one or more bond patterns 300. The building component facing members 200 have dimensions based on a template building component.

In some examples, the building component facing members 200 comprise header building component facing members 210 and/or stretcher building component facing members 220 and/or closer building component facing members 230.

In some examples placing the building component facing members 200 to form the soldier bond pattern 330 comprises aligning three stretcher building component facing members 220 on each tile 110. The length of the stretcher building component facing members 220 is the length of each tile 110. In some examples placing the building component facing members 200 to form stretcher bond patterns 310, 320, 340, 350 comprises placing three rows or columns of building component facing members 200 on each tile 110. The building component facing members 200 comprise stretcher building component facing members 220. Additionally, the building component facing members 200 which are laid out to form stretcher bond patterns 310, 320, 340, 350 comprise header building component facing members 210 and/or closer building component facing members 230.

Placing the building component facing members 200 to form the header bond pattern 360 comprises placing three rows or columns of header building component facing members 210 on each tile 110.

The method 500 is to be used, for example, with the system 1 and any of the features discussed above can also be included in the method 500.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method 600 of manufacturing a grid 100 for a system 1 for laying building component facing members 200 in one or more bond patterns 300. The method 600 comprises providing a surface in a first block 610. In a second block 620 the method comprises using a CNC machine to cut zigzag grooves 120 into the surface, wherein the horizontal straight sections 122 and the vertical straight sections 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 are perpendicular, wherein the zigzag grooves 120 are non-intersecting. In a third block 630, the method 600 comprises using the CNC machine to cut the surface into multiple tiles 110.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example surface 700 to be used in the method 600. In some examples the surface 700 is plywood. In other examples another board material is used.

Some of the zigzag grooves 120 start from a first edge 710 of the surface 700 and end on a second edge 720 of the surface 700. The first edge 710 and the second edge 720 form a first corner 730. The remaining zigzag grooves 120 start from a third edge 740 and end on a fourth edge 750 of the surface 700. The third edge 740 and the fourth edge 750 form a second corner 760. The first corner 730 and the second corner 760 are diagonally opposite corners on the surface 700. The gaps 150 cut by the CNC machine between adjacent tiles 110 are the same width as the width of the zigzag grooves 120 cut by the CNC machine.

The CNC machine cuts the straight sections 122, 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 to have a constant width. In this example, the CNC machine cuts the straight sections 122, 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 so that they are all the same length. In other examples, the vertical straight sections 124 can be a different length to the horizontal straight sections 122, an example of which is shown later in FIG. 8.

In some examples each horizontal straight section 122 of the zigzag grooves 120 are the same length. In some examples each vertical straight section 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 are the same length.

The design of the grid 100 enables a simpler manufacturing process of the grid. This is because the CNC machine can use a repeated motion to cut the zigzag grooves 120. The CNC machine can traverse in a zigzag pattern without having to retract from the surface 700 and so this makes for a simpler manufacturing process which can be continuous, compared to other grid designs which have several different types of tile design in the grid which makes it harder to manufacture.

The zigzag grooves 120 are easy to clean, making maintenance of the tiles 110 straightforward. The tiles 110 are also ambidextrous in that they can be rotated and still used for the grid 100. Using the grid 100 also results in less risk of delamination when gluing bricks to a vertical face.

In some examples a bull noser router bit is used in the CNC machine to form the zigzag grooves 120, which preserves the edge of the zigzag grooves 120.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example grid 100, comprising tiles 110. In this example, the vertical straight sections 124 of the zigzag grooves 120 are longer than the horizontal straight sections 122 of the zigzag grooves 120. In this example, the grid 100 can be used to layout and align various bond patterns 300, including, but not limited to: header bond patterns 360, Garden Wall bond patterns 380, and Flemish bond patterns 370. In this example, there are a higher number of zigzag grooves 120 per tile 110 compared to the tiles 110 illustrated in FIG. 1

The blocks illustrated in the FIGS 5 and 6 may represent steps in a method and/or sections of code in a computer program. The illustration of a particular order to the blocks does not necessarily imply that there is a required or preferred order for the blocks and the order and arrangement of the block may be varied. Furthermore, it may be possible for some blocks to be omitted.

The term ‘comprise’ is used in this document with an inclusive not an exclusive meaning. That is any reference to X comprising Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y. If it is intended to use ‘comprise’ with an exclusive meaning then it will be made clear in the context by referring to “comprising only one..” or by using “consisting”.

In this description, reference has been made to various examples. The description of features or functions in relation to an example indicates that those features or functions are present in that example. The use of the term ‘example’ or ‘for example’ or ‘can’ or ‘may’ in the text denotes, whether explicitly stated or not, that such features or functions are present in at least the described example, whether described as an example or not, and that they can be, but are not necessarily, present in some of or all other examples. Thus ‘example’, ‘for example’, ‘can’ or ‘may’ refers to a particular instance in a class of examples. A property of the instance can be a property of only that instance or a property of the class or a property of a sub-class of the class that includes some but not all of the instances in the class. It is therefore implicitly disclosed that a feature described with reference to one example but not with reference to another example, can where possible be used in that other example as part of a working combination but does not necessarily have to be used in that other example.

Although examples have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that modifications to the examples given can be made without departing from the scope of the claims. Features described in the preceding description may be used in combinations other than the combinations explicitly described above.

Although functions have been described with reference to certain features, those functions may be performable by other features whether described or not.

Although features have been described with reference to certain examples, those features may also be present in other examples whether described or not.

The term ‘a’ or ‘the’ is used in this document with an inclusive not an exclusive meaning. That is any reference to X comprising a/the Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y unless the context clearly indicates the contrary. If it is intended to use ‘a’ or ‘the’ with an exclusive meaning then it will be made clear in the context. In some circumstances the use of ‘at least one’ or ‘one or more’ may be used to emphasis an inclusive meaning but the absence of these terms should not be taken to infer any exclusive meaning.

The presence of a feature (or combination of features) in a claim is a reference to that feature or (combination of features) itself and also to features that achieve substantially the same technical effect (equivalent features). The equivalent features include, for example, features that are variants and achieve substantially the same result in substantially the same way. The equivalent features include, for example, features that perform substantially the same function, in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same result.

In this description, reference has been made to various examples using adjectives or adjectival phrases to describe characteristics of the examples. Such a description of a characteristic in relation to an example indicates that the characteristic is present in some examples exactly as described and is present in other examples substantially as described.

Whilst endeavoring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features believed to be of importance it should be understood that the Applicant may seek protection via the claims in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to and/or shown in the drawings whether or not emphasis has been placed thereon. l/we claim: