Abstract: A system is provided having a first antenna arrangement tuned to communicate within a first radiation pattern and a second antenna arrangement tuned to communicate within a second radiation pattern. In a preferred aspect of the invention, the first radiation path has an inverted conical shape and the second radiation path has a disk shape. The first radiation path is employed to communicate to access points communicating according to the IEEE 802.11 standard and being located above tabletop level. The second radiation path is employed to communicate to access points communicating according to the Bluetooth standard and being located at or below tabletop level. A guard band separates the first radiation path from the second radiation path. The first and second antenna arrangement can be coupled to separate radio devices or can be coupled to the same radio device.

Abstract: A reliable method of illuminating and imaging an eye through eyeglasses uses a monochromatic light source with the smallest possible source area, a camera with an imager that exhibits minimal blooming, and a narrow-bandwidth optical bandpass filter to filter out most of the ambient illumination while passing most of the light from the system's own illuminator. In an alternative embodiment, a partially-transparent mirror is used to make the light source appear to be on the optical axis of the camera as viewed from the subject's eye.

Abstract: A system and method of positioning a head of a subject to be photographed by a single camera uses a mirror and at least one collimated light beam. The single camera is positioned so that there is a selected specific location in space within a field of view of the camera at which the head or eye of the subject is desired to be positioned. A light source directs a collimated light beam or light sheet so that the light beam or light sheet intersects a line running from the mirror through the selected specific location in space and can be seen by an eye at the selected specific location in space that is looking at the mirror. The user is told to position his head across from the mirror and move his head until he sees the collimated light beam or light sheet and his eye in the mirror. When the subject is so positioned the single camera can take an image of the eye from which the subject can be identified. If desired a second mirror can be used in place of the light source.

Abstract: Purchase of an item bearing a unique identification code is verified by (a) ascertaining the identification code of an item to be purchased; (b) acquiring data representative of color features of the item to be purchased; and (c) comparing the data representative of color features of the item to be purchased to data representative of expected color features for items having the same identification code. Other physical characteristics of an item, such as height, may also be employed. The disclosed system is also capable of detecting whether a shopping cart is empty or not, and determining whether a non-empty cart is an indication that a theft is being attempted.

Abstract: A type of neural network called a self-organizing map (SOM) is useful in pattern classification. The ability of the SOM to map the density of the input distribution is improved with two techniques. In the first technique, the SOM is improved by monitoring the frequency for which each node is the winning node, and splitting frequently winning nodes into two nodes, while eliminating infrequently winning nodes. Topological order is preserved by inserting a link between the preceding and following nodes so that such preceding and following nodes are now adjacent in the output index space. In the second technique, the SOM is trained by applying a weight correction to each node based on the frequencies of that node and its neighbors. If any of the adjacent nodes have a frequency greater than the frequency of the present node, then the weight vector of the present node is adjusted towards the highest-frequency neighboring node.