Abstract: An air cooled ventilated shoe (200) is provided for ventilating an area of the shoe (200) around a foot. The air-cooled shoe contains an outer sole (204). An intake tube (228) is disposed near the front of the outer sole (204). The intake tube (228) is connected to pump cell (210). An exhaust tube (234) is also connected to pump cell (210). An intake valve (242) is disposed along the intake tube (228) and an exhaust valve (244) is disposed along the exhaust tube (234). The intake valve (242) only allows air to flow through to the pump (210). The exhaust valve (244) only allows air to flow out of the pump cell (210). The pump cell (210) is filled with an open-celled foam (212) so that when no pressure is being applied to the pump cell (210), it draws air in through the intake tube (228). When pressure is applied to the pump cell (210), the open-celled foam (212) is compressed and the air is expelled through the exhaust tube (234).

Abstract: A method and apparatus automatically process currency documents. A stack of loose bank documents are placed on a feeder having a feeder arm which pushes the documents toward a continuous vacuum belt. The feeder arm is controlled by a lever arm connected to a potentiometer. The vacuum belt pulls documents from the stack, and moves the documents past a vacuum separator head and to a transport conveyor. The vacuum belt and the vacuum separator head are connected to the same vacuum supply. The transport conveyor moves the documents through inspection and sorting stations, and to various stacking units which stack the documents on platens. A strapping tape is curved to bend in a direction transverse to its length, and then a terminal end portion of the strapping tape is pushed through connected channels to direct the terminal end portion around three sides of a stack of the documents.

Abstract: An animal litter comprised of a liquid absorbent aggregate impregnated with a litmus agent for indicating a urinary tract infection in felines.

Abstract: A video display is provided which includes a display screen mounted to a forward end of the video display, a video projector having a center of gravity, and a reflective assembly for directing light from within the video projector to the display screen. The video display further includes a frame for supporting the display screen, the video projector and a reflective assembly in an operative relationship. Stationary brackets are rigidly mounted to the frame, and projector brackets are rigidly mounted to the video projector. The projector brackets are pivotally mounted to the stationary brackets for rotating relative to the stationary brackets, about a pivot point. Rotating the projector brackets relative to the stationary brackets rotates the video projector relative to the frame, from a first position to a second position.

Abstract: A warming tray and removable heating cartridges of a glue gun system are provided. The warming tray has a base and a heating stand mounted to the base for holding the cartridges. The warming tray includes leads for connecting the cartridges to a source of electricity for heating the cartridges to operating temperatures. The glue gun system includes a gun having a barrel. A cartridge can be removably placed in the barrel. The cartridge has an open central passage to accept a glue stick and a tip to dispense the glue. Once received into the barrel the cartridge is heated, melting the glue therein. Additional cartridges can be placed in the warming tray such that they are electrically connected to a power supply and heated to a heated state. Thus, after one glue stick is used, a second can be immediately installed and used. An insulated tab allows for the easy handling of the cartridges.

Abstract: A system including a load center monitor (10) connected to a plurality of digitally enhanced circuit breakers (40) by a communication bus (26) provides monitoring and control of an electrical power distribution system. A user port (20) and a service port (22) provide a communication interface with an external computer. Visual indicators (34) and an audible alarm (30) provide for alerting persons to certain conditions in the system. Buttons are provided for CLEAR (38) and RESET (36) functions, and a diagnostic port (24) is also provided. The load center monitor (10) is operable to monitor the operation of the breakers (40) and download information therefrom in the form of historical data. Also, the load center monitor (10) can upload operating information to a breaker (40) in order to change the operation thereof.

Abstract: A dispensing container for medicinal or food supplement tablets, capsules or other similarly shaped products, or granular, powder or liquid products, said container having a hollow body (101) closed at one end (122) and an aperture (106) at the other end and two external dispensing means (102, 110) movable in relation to said hollow body (101) and each other, said external dispensing means (102, 110) being attached to said other end of said hollow body so as to prevent them from being removed, said two external dispensing means (102, 110) having dispensing apertures or cut-outs (107, 115) that can either be aligned with said aperture (106) in said hollow body (101) by moving each one of said external dispensing means (102, 110) in relation to said hollow body (101), in order to enable the dispensing of said product or, alternatively, be misaligned with said aperture (106) in said hollow body (101) by moving either one of said external dispensing means (102, 110) in relation to said hollow body (101), in order

Abstract: A connector alignment assembly is provided for aligning memory modules in a test position relative to a memory module tester. An automatic feeder receives, stages and then dispenses the electronic memory modules onto a conveyor, one at a time. The conveyor moves the electronic memory modules from the feeder to a test station. A contact plunger is used to push tester contacts against surface contacts of the electronic memory module to electrically connect the electronic memory module to test circuitry. The connector alignment assembly includes two alignment pins which are mounted to the contact plunger, such that when the contact plunger is moved to press the test contacts against the surface contacts, the alignment pins are moved into two alignment holes of the electronic memory module.

Abstract: A battery charge/discharge monitor circuit (10) is operable to be disposed in a battery pack (12) which can be connected to a battery (13). The monitor circuit (10) is operable to be connected to an external CPU (24) or similar system through a single wire communication port (22) for transferring information back and forth. There is also provided an external signal on a line (30) for indicating charge or discharge activity in the monitor circuit (10). The monitor circuit (10) is operable to collect information regarding the amount of charge input to the battery and the length of time that the charge is input to the battery and also the amount of charge that is removed from the battery and the length of time that the charge is removed. This information is stored in a memory block (62) for later access by the external CPU (24). This system also provides offset information to provide some type of compensation for non-linearities of the part.

Abstract: An automatic data flow architecture builder is disclosed that is operable to take raw data which is stored in a raw data buffer (60) and transform it for storage in a transformed data buffer (78). A plurality of transform blocks (68), (70) and (72) are provided for this transform operation, these disposed in a predetermined data flow. When the user inputs a new transform to be disposed within the data flow of the transforms, rules are applied via a rule-base processing system (74) to apply a set of predetermined rules in a rule database (76) to the transform. These rules determine where the transform is to be inserted. This provides an automatic construction operation of a data flow architecture.

Abstract: A multiple print engine system includes a plurality of print engine modules (10) that are arranged in a parallel configuration. Each of the print engine modules (PEMs) is a dedicated print engine having an associated photoconductor drum (44) and a transfer drum (42). Paper is pulled from an associated paper bin (78) or (80) and passed through the transfer nip (46) between the two drums (44) and (42). The printed copy, either made by a monochrome process or a multipass color process, is then passed through a fuser (74) to a print buffer (16) which has an associated print buffer path (104). The paper is maintained in the print buffer until it is selected by the output combiner (20). The output combiner (20) extracts the paper from the print buffer (16) at a faster rate than it was processed by the associated one of the print engines (10). The images are distributed to the various print engines by an image distributor (30) which determines which image is associated with which engine.

Abstract: A method of and system for compensating for geometric distortion in a two-dimensional image finds fiducial marks in the image plane corresponding to fiducial marks in the object plane. The invention includes performing a matched filter search to locate corner fiducials from an object plane in the image plane. Locating the corner fiducials permits locating the remaining fiducials in the image plane. A centroid calculation makes the location of the fiducials in the image plane more precise and permits the generation of a solution matrix. The solution matrix and a trajectory engine map the pixels in the image plane to compensate for magnification, tilt, pin cushion, barrel, and other types of geometric distortions.

Abstract: A method for providing independent static and dynamic models in a prediction, control and optimization environment utilizes an independent static model and an independent dynamic model. The static model is a rigorous predictive model that is trained over a wide range of data, whereas the dynamic model is trained over a narrow range of data. The gain K of the static model is utilized to scale the gain k of the dynamic model. The forced dynamic portion of the model referred to as the b.sub.i variables are scaled by the ratio of the gains K and k. The b.sub.i have a direct effect on the gain of a dynamic model. This is facilitated by a coefficient modification block. Thereafter, the difference between the new value input to the static model and the prior steady-state value is utilized as an input to the dynamic model. The predicted dynamic output is then summed with the previous steady-state value to provide a predicted value Y. Additionally, the path that is traversed between steady-state value changes.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for repairing a worn helicopter rotor blade made of composite materials by adhesively securing a supplemental leading edge abrasion wear strip made of nickel to the leading edge of the rotor blade. The periphery of the bonding surface of the leading edge of the rotor blade is masked. The bonding surfaces of the supplemental leading edge strip and the rotor blade are cleaned with a medium-grit scrubbing pad, grit-blasted with aluminum oxide and then rinsed with DI water. A strip of a structural adhesive film is hot bonded to the bonding surface of the supplemental leading edge strip using vacuum and a high temperature oven cure. The side of the structural adhesive film bonding surface which will be secured directly to the rotor blade bonding surface is first abraded and then wiped with a solvent. An epoxy adhesive mix is applied to the bonding surfaces of the rotor blade and the structural adhesive film of the supplemental leading edge strip.

Abstract: An irrigation system is disclosed for determining that the moisture content of various zones of the soil are irrigated to consistent levels. A moisture sensor has lateral spaced apart antennas which extend within a horizontal plane. The moisture sensor is disposed in the soil within one of the various regions. An irrigation piping branch includes a control valve which controls the flow of water through the irrigation branch. When the control valve is open, an irrigation fluid will pass through the valve and the irrigation branch for distribution to an irrigation region of the soil. Once the moisture within the soil of the irrigation region reaches a preselected level within the horizontal plane proximate to the moisture sensor, the valve will automatically be closed, stopping the flow of the irrigation fluid from the irrigation branch to the irrigation region of the soil.

Abstract: An anti-theft system is disclosed which includes a fuel cut-off valve (12) that is controlled in response to receiving a command over a paging system utilizing a paging receiver (14). The message that is sent to the paging receiver (14) is encrypted. This encryption is performed by utilizing a first level of encryption wherein a message is generated including a secondary address, command information and a CRCC check byte. This is encrypted by utilizing an encryption table of randomly generated numbers at a central office location and then utilizing a corresponding encryption table at the receive location for the decryption operation. An index byte is utilized to determine the value selected from the encryption table at the central location which is forwarded to the receiver such that the same values are extracted from that encryption table. These values are assembled into a decryption key which is similar to the encryption key at the central office.