Abstract: An electric toothbrush that detects plaque on the teeth, ensures accurate plaque detection, and performs cleaning of plaque. The electric toothbrush may include a body having a gripping part and a stem with a brush unit detachably coupled to the body. The electric toothbrush may include a light emitting element for emitting light onto the tooth and a light receiving element for receiving light that reflects off of the tooth. A controller may be included to determine an amount of plaque on the tooth based on the amount of reflected light detected. The electric toothbrush may also include a fluid dispensing system that dispenses fluid based on the amount of reflected light detected. In some aspects, the electric toothbrush may operate in multiple oscillation modes, and it may only dispense fluid in some of the modes but not all of the modes.

Abstract: A method for calculating a position of an object includes a first process to calculate a first position measurement value of a reference member in a depth direction of a measurement range of a three-dimensional measurement apparatus using a measurement result of the reference member measured by the three-dimensional measurement apparatus and a second process to calculate a second position measurement value of the reference member and a position of the object in the depth direction using measurement results of the reference member and the object measured by the three-dimensional measurement apparatus. In the second process, the position of the object is calculated by correcting an error difference which varies according to the position of the object in the depth direction, using the first position measurement value and the second position measurement value of the reference member.

Abstract: A slot array antenna includes: a first electrically conductive member having a first electrically conductive surface; a second electrically conductive member having a second electrically conductive surface opposed to the first electrically conductive surface; a waveguide member located between the first and second electrically conductive members; and an artificial magnetic conductor extending on both sides of the waveguide member in between the first and second electrically conductive members. The first or second electrically conductive member has a plurality of slots. The waveguide member includes an electrically-conductive waveguide face of a stripe shape opposed to the first electrically conductive surface. The plurality of slots include at least two slots that couple to the waveguide face. In between two positions respectively coupled to the two slots, the waveguide face includes at least one deflecting portion at which the direction that the waveguide face extends changes.

Abstract: A slot array antenna includes: a first electrically conductive member having a first electrically conductive surface; a second electrically conductive member having a second electrically conductive surface opposed to the first electrically conductive surface; a waveguide member located between the first and second electrically conductive members; and an artificial magnetic conductor extending on both sides of the waveguide member in between the first and second electrically conductive members. The first or second electrically conductive member has a plurality of slots. The waveguide member includes an electrically-conductive waveguide face of a stripe shape opposed to the first electrically conductive surface. The plurality of slots include at least two slots that couple to the waveguide face. In between two positions respectively coupled to the two slots, the waveguide face includes at least one deflecting portion at which the direction that the waveguide face extends changes.

Abstract: A waveguiding device includes: a first conductive member having a first conductive surface and a first rod group including a plurality of conductive rods protruding from the first conductive surface; a plate-shaped second conductive member having a second conductive surface opposing the first conductive surface and opposing leading ends of the rods in the first rod group, a third conductive surface on an opposite side from the second conductive surface, and a slit; and a third conductive member having a fourth conductive surface opposing the third conductive surface, and a second rod group including a plurality of conductive rods protruding from the fourth conductive surface and each having a leading end opposed to the third conductive surface. The slit is longer than a free-space wavelength of an electromagnetic wave having a center frequency of a frequency band used, and is located between the first rod group and the second rod group, the slit defining a transmission line.

Abstract: An antenna array according to an embodiment performs at least one of transmission and reception of an electromagnetic wave with a plurality of radiating elements. The antenna array includes a plurality of stacked waveguide components. Each waveguide component includes: an electrically conductive member having an electrically conductive surface; at least one waveguide member having an electrically-conductive waveguide face opposing the electrically conductive surface; and an artificial magnetic conductor extending on both sides of the waveguide member. A waveguiding gap between the waveguide face and the electrically conductive surface is open to an external space at an end of the waveguiding gap, and defines one of the plurality of radiating elements.

Abstract: A multicopter includes: motors to respectively rotate three or more rotors; and a radar system to transmit and receive a signal wave and detect a target by using the signal wave. An object detection apparatus in the radar system transmits and receives a signal wave to perform a target detecting process. An antenna element is in a position to receive the transmission wave reflected off a rotor (a rotor-originated reflected wave). The signal wave received at the antenna element is inclusive of a target-originated reflected wave reflected off a target and a rotor-originated reflected wave. The apparatus determines whether or not a frequency band satisfying a predefined condition for identifying a frequency peak is contained in a frequency spectrum of the signal wave as received by the antenna element, and determines a peak of a frequency band satisfying the predefined condition to be a frequency of the target-originated reflected wave.

Abstract: A slot array antenna includes: a first electrically conductive member having a first electrically conductive surface; a second electrically conductive member having a second electrically conductive surface opposed to the first electrically conductive surface; a waveguide member located between the first and second electrically conductive members; and an artificial magnetic conductor extending on both sides of the waveguide member in between the first and second electrically conductive members. The first or second electrically conductive member has a plurality of slots. The waveguide member includes an electrically-conductive waveguide face of a stripe shape opposed to the first electrically conductive surface. The plurality of slots include at least two slots that couple to the waveguide face. In between two positions respectively coupled to the two slots, the waveguide face includes at least one deflecting portion at which the direction that the waveguide face extends changes.

Abstract: A slot antenna array includes: a first electrically conductive member having a first electrically conductive surface on a front side and a second electrically conductive surface on a rear side, and having a first and second slots; a second electrically conductive member having a front-side third electrically conductive surface opposed to the second electrically conductive surface; a first waveguide member having an electrically-conductive waveguide face extending while being opposed to the second or third electrically conductive surface; an electrically-conductive first waveguiding wall disposed so as to surround or sandwich at least a portion of a space between the second slot and the first throughhole; and a first artificial magnetic conductor disposed on both sides of the first waveguide member and around the first waveguiding wall.

Abstract: The present invention provides a projection apparatus that projects line-light onto an object by a projection optical system, the apparatus comprising a generation unit configured to generate line-light by reflecting a portion of incident light, and an optical member having a reflecting surface configured to reflect the line-light generated by the generation unit to guide the line-light to the projection optical system, wherein the generation unit and the optical member are arranged so that an optical axis of the incident light to the generation unit, an optical axis of light incident on the reflecting surface, and an optical axis of light incident on the projection optical system are included in the same plane, and wherein the generation unit generates the line-light such that a direction orthogonal to the plane is a longitudinal direction of the line-light.

Abstract: Provided is a measuring apparatus that a beam splitter configured to split the first beam into test light and reference light and a beam multiplexer configured to multiplex the test light reflected by an object to be tested and the reference light are separately provided, and a beam guiding unit configured to guide the second beam to the object to be tested is disposed on the optical path of the test light between the beam splitter and the beam multiplexer or between the beam multiplexer and the detector.

Abstract: A measurement apparatus comprises a measurement head including a detector which detects an interference light between test light and reference light and a processing unit. The processing unit calculates an optical path length difference between the reference light and the test light from the detected interference light, calculates a test wavefront and a reference wavefront based on a nominal value of a shape of the surface to be measured and optical information of an optical component in the measurement head, calculates a wavefront difference, calculates a phase error, corrects the calculated optical path length difference based on the calculated phase error, calculates a distance between the reference point and the surface to be measured, and calculates the shape of the surface to be measured, based on the calculated distance between the reference point and the surface to be measured, and coordinates of the reference point.

Abstract: A bearing retainer unit is formed by an insert-molding technique to cast a molded component of the bearing retainer unit utilizing a bearing bushing. A first mold die, having a circumferential surface shaped to correspond to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of a bearing-positioning portion of the molded component, and a second mold die, having an abutment that abuts against an axial end face of the first die, are readied. A molten material is then injected into the mold to form the molded part, thereby forming the die-parting line on the inner circumferential surface of the component's bearing positioning portion, positioned at the radially outer side of the abutment.

Abstract: A bearing retainer unit is formed by an insert-molding technique to cast a molded component of the bearing retainer unit utilizing a bearing bushing. A first mold die, having a circumferential surface shaped to correspond to at least a portion of the inner circumferential surface of a bearing-positioning portion of the molded component, and a second mold die, having an abutment that abuts against an axial end face of the first die, are readied. A molten material is then injected into the mold to form the molded part, thereby forming the die-parting line on the inner circumferential surface of the component's bearing positioning portion, positioned at the radially outer side of the abutment.

Abstract: An image is read by an image reader and displayed on a color display. A segment (S) (or other graphic) is designated on the displayed image. Areas which overlap the segment and which have a designated color are specified as objective areas. The colors of the objective areas are changed to a newly designated color.

Abstract: An original image which is painted with at least first and second colors is subjected to a coloring process wherein a pixel block of M.times.N pixels in an original image is replaced by a representative pixel to generate a low density image. Then a subject image area is specified in the low density image, and the subject image area is painted with a desired color. The low density image is then magnified to form a high density image, and the high density image and the original image are compared with each other whereby another image is composed from the two images. Black image areas in the composed image area are finally changed to white. In the composed image, the desired color is allocated to pixels which have the desired color in the high density image and which are black in the original image while "white" is allocated to the other pixels.

Abstract: A target region and a pin hole size are specified in a block copy image, which is divided into plural separate regions. The size of each separate region in the target region is calculated and compared with the pin hole size. The separate region smaller than the pin hole size is extracted as a possible pin hole area and filled with the color of its surrounding area, thereby the pin holes are eliminated.

Abstract: A method for extracting partial run-length data comprises the steps of: reading out total run-length data from a first memory in order of scanning; generating index data which indicates the relationship between the address of the first memory assigned to run-length data representing a first run of each scanning line and the subscanning coordinate of each scanning line; extracting partial run-length data representing the specified partial image out of the total run-length data from the first memory while referring to the index data corresponding to a range of the subscanning coordinate of the partial image; and executing image processing on the partial run-length data extracted.

Abstract: An apparatus for transferring data in a time-sharing mode includes a plurality of modules connected to a common bus line for transferring data therethrough, a bus controller for controlling a time-sharing transfer of data between the modules, and a system controller connected to the modules and bus controller through a bidirectional command line. The system controller is operable, upon receipt of a data transfer request or data transfer completion notice from certain of the modules, to command the bus controller to generate or eliminate a bus slot. Then, the bus controller sets a new bus slot to a bus cycle, or eliminates a designated slot from the bus cycle, thereby to vary the number of slots constituting the bus cycle. Slot enable signals corresponding to the respective slots are transmitted to the modules through the bus line. Each module successively compares a slot number and slot enable signals, and exchanges data with the bus line upon agreement between the slot number and slot enable signals.