Abstract: In a laser printer having a serving semiconductor laser 14 as the printer engine part 3, the irradiation of a laser beam R, forming one pixel, is divided into a plurality of lighting times, and non-lighting times in response to clock horizontal synchronous signals CLKH1 and CLKH2, generated by a printer controller 2, so that the form of a light energy distribution, on a photosensitive body, for forming one pixel is made substantially trapezoidal. With this construction, the form of each dot of pixels composing an image is made substantially trapezoidal. This can lead to improving the image quality of any curve d portion and the sloped-line portion of the image, by reducing jaggedness.

Abstract: In the device disclosed, a foodstuff is placed in a carrier which can be rotated eccentrically around and over the face of a blade providing a circular cutting track by means of a plunger which is slidable within the carrier and can be gripped by a user to rotate the carrier while exerting pressure on a foodstuff contained in the carrier thereby to work the foodstuff against the cutting track.

Abstract: In the method of destroying hydrocarbons disclosed herein, a high temperature plasma is generated from an electrical discharge in a flow of hydrogen gas devoid of oxygen. The hydrocarbon to be destroyed is injected into the plasma thereby to decompose the hydrocarbon and produce an increased amount of hydrogen gas and also carbon particles. The carbon is then separated from the flow and at least a portion of the increased hydrogen is combined or combusted with atmospheric oxygen to generate electric current. That current is then applied to generate the plasma. Another portion of the hydrogen gas is fed back to feed the plasma generation. For hydrocarbon materials containing chlorine, the discharge flow is passed through an alkaline scrubber. An advantage of the method is that it produes carbon of exceptional purity which has significant commercial uses.

Abstract: A dropped sail is gathered along a boom extending generally horizontally from a mast upon which the sail can be raised during sailing, the mast being supported by a lateral stays. On each side of the boom, a first line, when tensioned, extends from the free end of the boom to a point on a respective lateral stay above the boom. A second line, when slackened, extends from a point adjacent the proximal end of the boom to a self-determining point on the first line. Lacing line means are provided for forming a web-like gathering structure between the boom and the first line means when tensioned. Tensioning of the second line when the first line is slackened draws the first line toward the boom for collapsing the gathering structure.

Abstract: Depth buffered anti-aliasing in a real time image generation system utilizing two separate buffers, one for combining attributes of object pixel definitions which are of less than full coverage and another for storing the attributes of each new object pixel definition which is of full coverage and which is closer to the viewpoint than any attributes currently stored. If the depth value in the partial buffer is closer the viewpoint than that in the full buffer, a set of attributes is output which is a weighted mixture of those stored in the two buffers.

Abstract: The bagging system disclosed herein utilizes T-shirt type bags which are mounted on the projecting arms of a rack by means of holes through the handle portions of the bags. Between the handles a mounting tab extends upward from the front and back panels of the bag. Near its upper end, each tab includes an aperture which can be placed over a mounting hook on the rack and, below this aperture, is a transverse slit leaving only easily severed portions on each side thereof. An adhesive bond is provided between the adjacent tabs in successive sacks. This bond is provided on the facing portions of the mounting tabs above the bag mouth and below the respective transverse slit. The bond is strong enough to tear the easily severed portions. Accordingly, removal of one bag from the rack causes the front wall of the next bag to be torn from the respective central tab and that next bag is then opened across the arms while remaining attached to the bag behind.

Abstract: The method disclosed herein facilitates the generation of a recognition model for a non-standard word uttered by a user in the context of a large vocabulary speech recognition system in which standard vocabulary models are represented by sequences of probability distributions for various acoustic symbols. Along with the probability distributions, a corresponding plurality of converse probability functions are precalculated which represent the likelihood that a particular probability distribution would correspond to a given input acoustic symbol. For a non-standard word uttered, a corresponding sequence of acoustic symbols is generated and, for each such symbol in the sequence, the most likely probability distribution is selected using the converse probability functions.

Abstract: The rigid coaxial transmission line disclosed herein is made up of multiple sections having outer conductors which are joined together at flanges and make up a desired length. Rather than being of equal length, the sections vary in length progressively to prevent the reflections caused by the flanges from accumulating at any frequency within the band at which the transmission line is to operate.

Abstract: A system for determining a property, such as conductivity, of a material in which a sensor provides a square wave sensor output signal the value if which is selected to the proper in response to a square wave driver signal. The sensor output signal is compared with a feedback signal to produce an error signal. A forward circuit responds to the error signal and provides an in-phase component thereof which is integrated to provide an integrated DC output signal. A feedback signal provides an in-phase square wave feedback signal the peak-to-peak amplitude of which has a precisely selected relationship with the integrated DC output signal for comparison with the square wave sensor output signal to reduce the error signal to zero. The integrated DC output signal can be digitized and suitably processed to provide a signal which represents the property of the material to a high degree of accuracy.

Abstract: The coaxial connector disclosed herein accommodates differential expansion between inner and outer conductors in a multi-section run of coaxial transmission line by utilizing a coupler assembly which connects adjacent inner conductors, one of the inner conductors being fixedly connected to the coupler with axial movement being permitted with respect to the other inner conductor. Electrical connection between the coupler and the movable conductor is established at a single axial position by an annular conductive spring member while longitudinal alignment is maintained over the rest of the length of the coupler by insulating rings set into annular grooves. A tubular shield extends from the coupler over the adjacent end of the movable inner conductor without electrical contact. The axial length of the shield is larger than the differential expansion which occurs between inner and outer conductor sections.

Abstract: The classifier device disclosed herein analyzes message headers of the type which comprise a sequence of bit groups presented successively. The device employs a read/write memory for storing at a multiplicity of addresses, an alterable parse graph of instructions. The parse graph instructions include node instructions which comprise opcodes in association with respective next address characterizing data and terminator instructions which comprise identifying data for previously characterized header types. A logical processor responds to a node instruction read from memory either by initiating another memory read at a next address which, given the current state of the processor, is determinable from the current node instruction and the current header bit group or by outputting data indicating recognition failure if no next address is determinable. The logical processor responds to a terminator instruction by outputting respective header identifying data.

Abstract: A pager terminal device is provided with a receiver circuit, an electronic memory for storing an application program by which received pager-use data are effectively utilized, and a single connector for connecting the receiver circuit and the electronic memory to a host apparatus. This arrangement obviates the necessity of installing an external storage device for storing the application program, and still maintains the portability of the host apparatus. The pager terminal device is further provided with: a connection-discriminating circuit for discriminating the connected state between the pager terminal device and the host apparatus; and an input switching circuit for switching input channels for the pager terminal device so as to provide a connection to the key section of the pager terminal device or to the key section of the host apparatus, in cooperation with the connection-discriminating circuit.