Abstract: An apparatus for holding a plurality of cards having a first surface providing visual indicia thereon and permitting selective removal of same is provided wherein said apparatus comprises: (i) binding means common along the first edge of said plurality of cards which permits selectable detachment of individual ones of said plurality of cards; (ii) a flexible cover including an inside surface and an outside surface and also having a first edge coupled to the binding means, said inside surface extendable around said plurality of cards, and a second opposite edge flexibly extendable beyond said binding means; and (iii) detachable adhering means on said inside surface of said cover near said second edge selectively usable in either of a carrying position whereby said adhering means adjoins the inside surface of said cover with the outside surface of said cover in a generally secure manner which substantially envelopes said plurality of cards and a second display position whereby said adhering means is coupled to

Abstract: An apparatus and method for varying the sampling frequency of a Doppler effect device, based on environmental conditions, is described comprising: (i) a transmitter for transmitting energy into a protected area; (ii) a receiver for receiving energy reflected from the protected area and for transforming the received energy into a motion detection signal which is proportional to any Doppler energy received by the receiver; (iii) a processor responsive to the motion detection and operative to automatically modify the sampling frequency when the motion detection signal exceeds a predetermined threshold value and the apparatus has not been operated at each of a plurality of sampling frequencies; and (iv) an alarm coupled to the processor activated when the motion detection signal exceeds the predetermined threshold value and the apparatus has been operated at each of the plurality of sampling frequencies.

Abstract: A two-stage time operated throttle and method is described for use on a drag racing vehicle comprising: (i) an electro-mechanical controller for selectively opening and closing the throttle of the vehicle; (ii) an on-board processor capable of issuing an open throttle control signal and a close throttle control signal; (iii) a first adjustable timer set prior to launch to a predetermined first value whereby, upon expiration of the first value, a close throttle signal is issued; (iv) a second adjustable timer set prior to launch to a predetermined second value, which is greater than the first value whereby, upon expiration of the second value, an open throttle control signal is issued; and (v) a signal for modifying at least one of the first and second values subsequent to launch based on actual race conditions. A four-stage time operated throttle and method is also provided by adding a third timer and a fourth timer.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method for freezing and cutting a tissue specimen for medical diagnostic purposes which comprises a specimen block holder for holding the tissue specimen; an embedding medium; a freezing plane for providing direct metal contact freezing of the specimen; a knife blade comprising a cutting edge which is substantially parallel to and may be displaced a preset distance from the freezing plane; a block holder for holding the specimen; and driving means for transporting the block holder towards the freezing plane for creating a flat frozen surface of the specimen having a thickness t and also for transporting the frozen specimen past the knife edge to provide a section having a desired thickness. The planar relationship and known distance between the freezing plane and the cutting edge together will be used as the basis for calculating frozen thickness t of the specimen. This allows for precise and automated movement of the block holder for trimming.

Abstract: A swept microwave power measurement system and method capable of performing accurate high performance absolute power measurements on the fly for integration with a scalar analyzer. The system interpolates a calibration factor of the detector at a given frequency point in the sweep between previously established calibration factors at various predetermined frequencies which are stored in memory and then determines an "apparent" power level of the input signal at a standard frequency. The interpolated calibration factor is applied to the "apparent" power level to determine the "absolute" power level at the given frequency point in the sweep.

Abstract: A method of determining the location of a barcode block comprising the steps of reducing an input image, rejecting background clutter, detecting barcode regions, extracting barcode moment-based features, and determining four corner points of said barcode block. This method of determining the location of a barcode block can be implemented in a single PC card and achieve a throughput of more than 16 documents per second.