Abstract: An advertising system to be used with personal computers which enables sponsors to present advertisements or commercials to a user during periods of waiting-time which are inherent in normal computer use. A segment of a software product contains one or more sponsors' audio, visual, or multi-modality messages. The advertising system chooses one of these messages and presents it to the user of the computer during the times that the user is not normally able to use the keyboard of the computer because information is being loaded up or sent out. Such times occur during the start-up of a program or during the sending of information from the computer to a peripheral device such as a printer, modem, or fax. The advertisement, or sequence of advertisements, may be chosen based upon the amount of time which the computer will need to achieve a task before being ready for new input from the user.

Abstract: A medical device includes a magnetic stimulator having a magnetic induction coil which is placed next to the scalp of a patient. A pulse train of high energy electrical waves is flowed through the induction coil to produce a sufficiently strong magnetic field to generate currents in the patient's brain for the therapy of psychiatric illnesses. These currents induced in the brain are below the minimum needed to induce a convulsive brain seizure. The device includes an ECG (electrocardiograph) to monitor the electrical activity of the patient's heart and an EEG (electroencephalograph) to monitor the patient's electrical brain waves.

Abstract: A multi-port valve mechanism for fluids, especially compressed air, comprises a cylindrical (ring-like) housing. A motor drives a shaft centered in the housing which is rotatably supported by the housing walls. The shaft carries an arm having one, or two, rollers which pinch close a flexible and resilient elongated tube, which tube is secured to the inside wall of the housing. A series of port orifices are aligned and spaced along the tube; so that an inlet port is connected to outlet ports, one after the other, in sequence, as the pinch roller is moved along the tube by the arm.

Abstract: A circuit for actuating a door chime has a dc power source in series with a resistor and in shunt with a capacitor. A remote push button transmits a radio signal to the circuit, to connect a solenoid in series with the power source and the resistor and in shunt with the capacitor, which causes a relatively large pulse of current from the instantaneous combination of the power source current and the current from the charge of the capacitor to be applied to the solenoid which is arranged to strike a tone bar. The resistor in series with the capacitor has a time constant that charges the capacitor adequately between cycles of the operation of the push button and the resistance of the resistor limits the current flow from the power source.

Abstract: A cane having a handle and a shaft with a tip section has an elastomeric attachment plug with a bore therethrough, with the tip section of the pole captured by the bore. A bottom face of the attachment plug has a cavity so that when the plug is pushed on the ground it tends to form a partial vacuum. The top face supports a disk-like basket connected to the shaft.

Abstract: A medical device and method for eye surgery and method for illumination and fluid flow, particularly retinal surgery, combines a flow of infusing fluid and optical fiber illumination. The device uses a single strand of plastic optical fiber which extends through bores in a juncture device tube and needle cannula with sufficient clearance to permit the flow of the infusing fluid. The illuminating tip of the optical fiber is moved, during surgery, by loosening a cap of the junction device to release the optical fiber, moving the optical fiber within the junction device, and then re-tightening the cap to re-secure the optical fiber.

Abstract: A computer-aided training system uses electroencephalograms (EEGs) recorded from the trainee's scalp to alter the training protocol being presented by the computer, for example to present a new task to the trainee when he or she has mastered and automatized the current task. The index of the trainee's skill mastery and automatization is determined by analysis of the EEG using mathematical classification functions which distinguish different levels of skill acquisition. The functions are computed by computer neural networks and consist of a combination of EEG and other physiological variables which specifically characterize a trainee's level of focused attention and neurocognitive workload and his or her neurocognitive strategy. The functions are derived either for a group of trainees, or each trainee individually, performing a battery of one or more standard training tasks while wearing an EEG hat.

Abstract: An electrocephalograph (EEG) system and. method is provided to monitor patients during and after medical operations. An anesthesiologist administers sufficient anesthetics to cause the patient to attain the desired plane of anesthesia. The patient's brain waves, both ongoing and evoked by stimuli, are amplified, digitized and recorded. That pre-operative set of brain wave data is compared to a set of the patient's brain wave data obtained during the operation in order to determine if additional, or less, anesthesia is required, paying particular attention to the relative power in the theta band, as an indication of brain blood flow, and prolongations of the latency periods under brain stem stimuli, as an indication of the patient's ability to feel pain.

Abstract: The sliding door assembly for an elevator and a method for replacing an existing swinging elevator door with a sliding elevator door. The swinging door assembly is removed and is replaced in situ with a sliding elevator door assembly. A portion of the wall adjacent to the elevator door is removed, permitting the sliding door to slide into the part of the wall which has been removed. The part of the wall which has been removed and in which the sliding door fits is covered by a stationary panel. In another embodiment, there are two sliding doors that slide behind the side stationary panel. A left sliding entrance door and a right sliding entrance door are in separate planes so that one of the doors can slide behind the other.

Abstract: A direct drive robot motor may be used for the arms, legs, eyes and fingers of a robot. The motor comprises a rotor, having a permanent magnet, and a tubular arm portion, which is integral with the rotor and extends outwardly through a slot in a stator body. The stator body is wound with an aluminum coil and has a tubular extension to link it with the arm of another direct drive motor.

Abstract: An adapter connects a small solid-state television camera to a viewing port of a microscope. The adapter has a lens to focus the image from the microscope, the lens being mounted in a slidable lens holder. The lens holder is slid by rotation of a manual control knob which is connected to a pinion gear in mesh with a gear rack on the lens holder. A mirror within the housing of the adapter, in its normal position, reflects the image 45 degrees and is a flat disk-shaped mirror mounted for universal movement about its center. The angle of the mirror is controlled by a finger-operated control rod which is connected to the mirror by a linkage system having a larger ball, a smaller ball mounted in a bore of the larger ball, and two pairs of rotatable mounts.

Abstract: Many-to-one and one-to-many digital image transformations play a significant role in a variety of imaging communications, visualization, and robotic applications. A method is presented for forwarding mapping frames of TV images in a many-to-one mapping using run length encoding. A digital computer system includes a look-up table memory having the address of each input run-length of pixels (a series of side-by-side pixels) and the address of the single output pixel corresponding thereto. An example is a 512.times.512 pixel TV frame which, in real time, is mapped onto a log polar coordinate TV frame of 2000-3000 pixels. This method can be used with existing low-cost general purpose computers providing a speed advantage approximating five-hundred percent, and a memory savings of between 10 and 100,000 times, relative to the current art. As a result, electronic imaging systems employing many-to-one or one-to-many image warps may be built in significantly smaller, cheaper, faster and lower power implementations.

Abstract: A method and system to prevent auto theft from parking areas, such as airport parking lots, includes a ticket dispenser, at an entry gate, which issues a numbered ticket to each driver. The driver is advised to carry the ticket with him and not to leave it in the car. At the same time the ticket is issued, the color of the car, or its length or part of its license plate number, is automatically determined and entered into computer memory, in association with the ticket number. At the exit, the ticket is presented by the driver, read by a ticket reader, and its associated data (car color, length or license number) is retrieved from computer memory. Also at the exit, the car's color, length or part of its license plate is again automatically obtained and compared with the data retrieved from the computer memory. In the event of a mismatch, a warning signal is generated.

Abstract: In MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) the signal-to-noise images of a subject's body organs are improved by combining the signals from a number of position co-registered images or fractional data sets. The co-registration is obtained by reducing movement of the organ by the subject holding his breath. A computer cursor may be positioned at a selected point of the subject's organ displayed on the MRI monitor's screen to produce a fiducial marking on the MRI image or fractional data sets, which provides for accurate co-registration. Alternatively, a computer edge detection algorithm is used to determine the edge, and position, of the organ of interest and to produce radio frequency offsets for accurate co-registration of the subsequent images or fractional data sets. The fractional data sets, each having a fiducial marking, are combined to form a final MRI image.

Abstract: In a medical procedure to treat a patient in a deep coma, an electrode is implanted on the vagus nerve (tenth cranial nerve) in the patient's neck. A selected pulse train is generated and applied to the electrode as a treatment for the deep coma. The patient's brain waves are collected, amplified and digitized before, during and after the treatment, and compared, using a computer system, against a reference (the patient or/and a normal group) to determine if the treatment is helping the patient.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed which act to prevent damage to stored data through the operation of a computer virus. The apparatus is preferably a plug-in card insertable to occupy a number of address locations within a computer system to be protected. At BIOS initialization of the computer system, the apparatus alters interrupt pointers, stored in RAM, to specific ROM functions, to point to locations within the apparatus. The apparatus can then monitor relevant interrupt requests for data change instructions wherein if data changes are intended, warning messages are provided to the computer user, who can then decide to continue the operation, or to abort which can prevent viral damage to stored data. In an alternative configuration, selected address locations can be continually monitored and the system shut down via a hardware reset in the event of unauthorized address location access.