Abstract: The invention is a Method and Apparatus for detecting the application of a liquid drop into a transparent reaction chamber or other reflecting surface in the presence of ambient light and transient motion of the chamber. A light source is modulated into two or more discrete levels at a fixed or variable modulation rate. These levels include an off level where there is no light from the optical source. Light from the source is specularly reflected into an optical detector which is sampled at least once for each modulated light level. Differences between modulated levels and the off level represent the amount of reflectivity of the surface or chamber. When liquid enters the chamber or is applied to the surface, the reflectivity changes. This leads to detectable changes between the modulated levels and the off level. Ambient light simply shifts the absolute values of the levels.

Abstract: A method and system relating to management of dynamic vehicle data from data sources that produce data entries that have both type and latency and are possibly periodic. Data sources produce data entries that are entered into a fixed interval data storage structure that has positions related to times. Data entries are entered into the storage structure at a position represented by the position of the current time minus the known latency of the data source. The position in the structure representing the current time is updated at predetermined times so that the structure represents a historical record in real time. Data clients receive notification of availability of data and request retrievals from the fixed interval storage structure of either current or historical data entries. When a current entry of a given data type is requested, the system returns the most recent data of that type stored.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method and apparatus for diagnosing faulty cylinders in internal combustion engines. A probe produces a signal that is representative of the instantaneous angular velocity of the engine shaft. A Percent Power Contribution (PPC) parameter is computed by substracting the square of the instantaneous angular velocity at the beginning of a cylinder period from the square of the instantaneous angular velocity at the end of that cylinder's period and dividing this difference by the square of the average engine angular velocity. A value of this PPC parameter significantly less than zero indicates a faulty cylinder. An Average Energy Percent parameter (AEP) is computed by dividing the squares of the sampled instantaneous angular velocity values summed over a cylinder period by the number of samples in that period and by the square of the average engine angular velocity. A value of this AEP parameter significantly less than one indicates the previous cylinder in the firing order is faulty.

Abstract: The invention is a method and apparatus for extracting and analyzing features in real time from primary or secondary ignition waveforms, including engine probes, sampling device, and a processor that extracts from the waveform features such as peak firing height, firing line duration, firing line slope, firing line noise, post firing line duration, primary oscillations, and dwell interval duration and compares them against fixed thresholds and running averages to detect anomalies. Anomalies are reported as they occur allowing diagnosis of transient events as well as steady conditions. Waveforms with or without anomalies may be stored and retrieved as needed.

Abstract: An improved, interactive drag strip amusement ride that satisfies the need for a ride where any person can safely experience the thrills of a drag race and the requirements placed on a drag race driver. It comprises an apparatus for accurately simulating a drag race from the perspective of the race driver. The driver interactively controls the acceleration, gearshifting, and braking as if in an actual drag race.