Abstract: An optical element for a light based touch surface including a concatenated plurality of segments, wherein each segment is paired with a respective light emitter, each segment including an undulating series of pairs of reflective or refractive facets, wherein a first facet in each pair is oriented so as to collimate light emitted from a first light emitter associated with the segment and a second facet in each pair is oriented so as to collimate light emitted from a second light emitter associated with the segment, and wherein the first light emitter associated with the segment is the light emitter paired with the segment and the second light emitter associated with the segment is the light emitter paired with a neighboring segment.

Abstract: A solid state memory stores a mirror image of a computer hard drive. The solid state memory is coupled with a wireless communication chip, such as 3G, in order to enable dynamically updating the files on the solid state memory. Any modifications done to the files on the hard drive are synced with the files on the solid state memory. Similarly, any modifications done to the files on the solid state memory are synced with the files on the hard drive.

Abstract: A touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing and arranged along a first edge of the display, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and serially transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses over the display, a light guide mounted in the housing along the edge of the display opposite the first edge, for receiving the light pulses, the light guide including a reflective strip that reflects light pulses to one end of the light guide, a light pulse receiver mounted in the housing near the one end of the light guide, for receiving the reflected light pulses, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receiver, for determining a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receiver.

Abstract: A pressure-sensitive touch screen including a housing, at least one light receiver rigidly mounted in the housing, a display flexibly mounted in the housing substantially above the at least one receiver, which depresses in response to pressure of a touch, and a calculating unit connected to the at least one light receiver for receiving outputs indicating amounts of received light by the at least one receiver, and for determining that the display is being depressed based on an increase in an output of the at least one receiver.

Abstract: A touch screen system, including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing below the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing below the display, a first light guide, mounted in the housing along a first edge of the display, including a first substantially parabolic reflective surface for reflecting light pulses transmitted by the emitters, and a first substantially elliptical refractive surface, positioned substantially above the first substantially parabolic reflective surface, for refracting the reflected light pulses over the display, a second light guide, mounted in the housing along an opposite edge of the display, including a second substantially elliptical refractive surface for further refracting the light pulse refracted by the first substantially elliptical refractive surface, and a second substantially parabolic reflective surface, positioned substantially below the second substantially elliptical refractive s

Abstract: A method of calibrating optical components in a light-based touch screen, including providing (i) a display, (ii) a row of light pulse emitters that sequentially transmit light pulses over the display according to calibrated pulse current and pulse duration controls, and (iii) a row of light pulse receivers that receive the light pulses and that output values representing the received light pulses, each receiver having expected values for emitter-receiver pairs when the light pulses are not blocked, determining if each receiver output value for a receiver-emitter pair is within a respective designated range from the corresponding receiver expected value, and when a receiver output value for a receiver-emitter pair is outside the designated range, recalibrating the emitter, including adjusting at least one of the emitter pulse current and pulse duration such that subsequent receiver output values are within the designated range, and updating the receiver expected value for the receiver-emitter pair based on su

Abstract: A method of attaching a component to a substrate, including providing a component guide attached to a substrate, the component guide having a cavity substantially conforming to contours of a portion of a component, attaching a first solder pad to the component, inserting the component into the guide cavity, providing a second solder pad, offset from the first solder pad and near the cavity, and inserting the component, the component guide and the substrate into an oven heating the solder pads, wherein the component is drawn further into the guide cavity by a capillary effect of the heated solder pads.

Abstract: A method of determining a touch coordinate on a touch screen, including providing a display, a plurality of collimating lenses along two opposite edges of the display, the collimating lenses being arranged along the two edges so as to be shift-aligned relative to one another, a plurality of light pulse emitters that transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses of a first of the two edges over the display, and a plurality of light pulse receivers that receive the light pulses through the collimating lenses of the opposite of the two edges, and that output values representing the received light pulses, wherein light pulses emitted by each emitter are detected by at least two of the receivers, wherein each receiver detects light pulses emitted by at least two emitters, and wherein each receiver has expected values for emitter-receiver pairs when light pulses are not blocked, selecting receiver output values for emitter-receiver pairs that deviate significantly from corresponding receiver expected values,

Abstract: A touch screen system including a reflective display surface, a camera mounted so as to capture an image of (i) the reflective display surface, (ii) a pointer approaching the reflective display surface, and (iii) a reflection of the pointer on the reflective display surface, and a processor coupled with the camera that determines a three-dimensional location of the pointer relative to the reflective display surface, based on the positions of the pointer and the reflection of the pointer in the image captured by the camera.

Abstract: A touch screen including a housing, a display mounted in the housing, a plurality of collimating lenses mounted in the housing along two opposite edges of the display and arranged along the two edges so as to be shift-aligned relative to one another, a plurality of light pulse emitters mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and transmit light pulses through the collimating lenses of one of the two edges over the display, a plurality of light pulse receivers mounted in the housing that are spaced apart from and receive the light pulses through the collimating lenses of the opposite of the two edges, and a calculating unit, mounted in the housing and connected to the receivers, that determines a location of a pointer on the display that partially blocks the light pulses transmitted by the emitters, based on outputs of the receivers.

Abstract: An enhanced Livescribe® pen is disclosed and incorporated into a patient record database system. A physician writes patient records on Livescribe® dot paper and the patient records are converted into digital data and transmitted wirelessly to a remote server. The enhanced Livescribe® pen includes an RFID tag reader that reads a patient RFID tag every time a new record in written. The patient ID is transmitted together with the converted written patient records to the remote server.

Abstract: A touch screen system, including a near-infrared transparent screen including a plurality of reflective elements embedded therein, a circuit board including circuitry for controlled selective activation of electronic components connected thereto, at least one light source connected to the circuit board, for emitting light, and at least one light detector connected to the circuit board, for detecting light emitted by the at least one light source and reflected by the reflective elements.

Abstract: A touch screen system, including a screen, a plurality of light sources coupled with the screen, for emitting light, a plurality of photo diodes coupled with the screen, for detecting the light emitted by the light sources, and for identifying the location of a touch on the screen when an absence of the emitted light is detected, and a plurality of lenses coupled respectively with the plurality of light sources to generate wide beams of light over a portion of the screen wherein substantially connected areas of the screen are covered by neighboring wide beams.

Abstract: A computer readable medium storing a computer program with computer program code, which, when read by a mobile computer unit, allows the computer to present a user interface for the mobile computer unit. The user interface includes a touch sensitive area in which a portion of a first window and a portion of a second window are displayed. The user scrolls the first window when an object touches a corresponding location in the touch sensitive area at which the first window is displayed, and scrolls the second window when an object touches a corresponding location in the touch sensitive area at which the second window is displayed. The user interface displays a plurality of keys which are selected when an object touches a corresponding key location and are activated when the object applies additional pressure to the corresponding key location. Alternatively, the key is activated when an object touches its corresponding location.

Abstract: A light-based touch screen, including a housing for a display screen, a plurality of infra-red light emitting diodes (LEDs), fastened on the housing, for generating light beams, at least one LED selector, fastened on the housing and connected with the plurality of LEDs, for controllably selecting and deselecting one or more of the plurality of LEDs, a plurality of photodiode (PD) receivers, fastened on the housing, for measuring light intensity, at least one PD selector, fastened on the housing and connected with the plurality of PD receivers, for controllably selecting and deselecting one or more of the plurality of PD receivers, an optical assembly, fastened on the housing, for projecting light beams emitted by the plurality of LEDs in substantially parallel planes over the housing, and a controller, fastened on the housing and coupled with the plurality of PD receivers, (i) for controlling the at least one LED selector, (ii) for controlling the at least one PD selector, and (iii) for determining therefrom

Abstract: Associative processing methods and apparatus are described for processing graphics data for three-dimensional graphic displays, e.g., in three-dimensional games. A texture, which comprises a bitmap image used to apply a design onto the surface of a 3D computer model for 3D graphics display, may be converted to APA (associative processor apparatus) instructions.

Abstract: A method for encoding DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) coordinates, the method including partitioning an image into blocks of size n×m, transforming the blocks with a DCT to obtain DCT coefficients, quantizing the DCT coefficients, and transmitting the DCT coefficients of the image as a series of (nm) streams, wherein each stream contains all of values representing a given coordinate within each of the blocks.

Abstract: Associative processing methods and apparatus are described for processing graphics data for three-dimensional graphic displays, e.g., in three-dimensional games. A texture, which comprises a bitmap image used to apply a design onto the surface of a 3D computer model for 3D graphics display, may be converted to APA (associative processor apparatus) instructions.

Abstract: A method of performing in-place arithmetic, particularly addition and subtraction, on numbers stored in respective consecutive rows of an array processor that has two tags registers. In a first machine cycle per bit, results of logical operations are stored in the tags registers, and the tags registers are shifted to align the intermediate results with other rows. In a second machine cycle per bit, results of further logical operations are stored in the tags registers, and the tags registers are shifted back to align the new intermediate results with the original rows.

Abstract: Methods of adding and subtracting sets of binary numbers using an associative processor. The inner loop over corresponding bits of the operands is executed in only three machine cycles. Only the carry bit of each loop iteration is carried forward to the next loop iteration. At most five logical operations are used per loop iteration for addition, and at most seven logical operations, of which at most five are binary logical operations, are used per loop iteration for subtraction. In each loop iteration, the second input bit is a direct or indirect argument of at most three logical operations in addition, and of at most four logical operations in subtraction. Each loop iteration includes at least one OR operation and at most two XOR operations.