Abstract: A hand-held computer pointing device has a palm-sized, low profile device housing, which is contoured to fit naturally into the palm of a user's hand and not interfere with the user's ability to type with both hands; a strap that may be used to secure the hand-held computer pointing device to the user's hand; a tracking mechanism positioned in the device housing such that it is located under the natural position of the user's thumb; a plurality of button mechanisms positioned below the user's fingers; a scrolling mechanism is generally positioned underneath the user's index finger; and is compatible with standard pointing device software.

Abstract: A plastic injection molding/encapsulation apparatus for the peripheral encapsulation of a glass workpiece which is equipped with an optical sensing device including a light source, a light detector, and a light reflector to detect possible glass breakage of the workpiece and thus automatically shutting down the plastic injection process to avoid damage to the mold.

Abstract: An instrument of measuring motion of a vibratory system, such as an ultrasonic bonder, employs a laser (10) that receives within its lasing cavity light transmitted (24) to the object (26) to be monitored and retroreflected (24), so that oscillations within the laser cavity experience interference peaks corresponding to the phase relation between the outgoing and incoming laser beams (24). The interference peaks of the beam within the cavity are counted to provide an indication of motion of the reflecting object. Sensitivity is enhanced by choosing a front reflector (14) of the laser cavity to have a transmissivity at the frequency of interest that is selected to achieve maximum interference peak values. The laser cavity length is selected to cause the laser to have no more than two modes at the output frequency of interest, thereby avoiding beat frequencies that approach the frequency of vibration of the mechanical system of which motion is being observed.