Abstract: A lidar system, preferably including one or more transmit modules, beam directors, and/or receive modules, and optionally including one or more processing modules. A method of lidar system operation, preferably including: emitting light beams, receiving reflected light beams, and/or analyzing data associated with the received light beams.

Abstract: A fire detector and method of using it generate a fire alarm through use of a smoke detector and a carbon monoxide detector once the smoke detector detects a threshold level of light obscuration for greater than a first pre-selected time period or a reduced threshold level of light obscuration for greater than a second pre-selected time period or the CO detector detects a rate of increase in CO concentration which exceeds a first preselected CO rate for a third pre-selected time period and the smoke detector detects the reduced threshold level of light obscuration or the rate of increase in CO concentration exceeds a second preselected CO rate for a fourth pre-selected time period.

Abstract: A method for detecting the concentration of one or more gas species by using infrared radiation emitted from one or more sources into a sample cell which is a hollow waveguide with multiple bends collectively greater than 180 degrees in three dimensions, the infrared radiation being quasi-focused into a beam with an angle of incidence between greater than approximately 0° and approximately 10° relative to a longitudinal axis of a first linear segment of the sample cell proximate the source, then detecting two or more signals in which one of the signals is used to compensate for water vapor. The methods can detect gas concentrations down to 1 ppm or less.

Abstract: A fire detector and method for generating an alarm signal in response to a fire uses an NDIR CO2 sensor to generate a detector signal based upon a 15? absorption band of CO2 and generates an alarm signal when a signal processor receives the detector signal and a preselected criterion is met that is indicative of the onset of a fire based upon an analysis of the detector signal using a detection algorithm that relies upon a trending pattern of the detector signal such as recognizing a substantial drop in the detector signal strength. The NDIR CO2 sensor can also generate a reference detector signal based upon a 9.O? neutral band with a FWHM=0.5? while the signal processor utilizes a detection algorithm that is based upon a synchronized output signal representative of CO2 concentration to generate an alarm signal when a preselected criterion indicative of the onset of a fire is met.

Abstract: A fire detector and method for generating an alarm signal in response to a fire uses an NDIR sensor to generate a detector signal based upon one or more absorption bands selected from the 15.1? absorption band of CO2, the 6.27? absorption band of H2O and the 4.67? absorption band for CO and generates an alarm signal when a signal processor receives the detector signal and a preselected criterion is met that is indicative of the onset of a fire based upon an analysis of the detector signal using a detection algorithm that relies upon a trending pattern of the detector signal such as recognizing a substantial drop in the detector signal strength. The fire detector has a waveguide sample chamber (which can be of a re-entrant design) with at least one opening covered by a thin filtering membrane and a heat exchanger thermally connected to the sample chamber with at least one opening covered by another thin filtering membrane.

Abstract: A sporting game in which a new ball called a skokker ball is kicked from a starting point toward a smooth containing a buc for the purpose of sinking the skokker ball into the buc in as few as strikes as possible and, if the skokker ball is not sunk into the buc when it is first kicked, then it is struck with a player's foot one or more additional times until the skokker ball is sunk into the buc. The direction of travel of the skokker ball is to the right when a counterclockwise spin is applied to the skokker ball at a point of contact with the player's foot, to the left when a clockwise spin is applied to the skokker ball at the point of contact, and straight when a top spin is applied to skokker ball at the point of contact. The game is played on a course having N holes each of which has a starting point, a rough and a smooth with a buc located in it.

Abstract: A ball with a hollow inner core filled approximately 50% or less by volume with a fluid (which can include metallic spheres), a ball shell and struts (six or more) attached to the core and connected to an inner surface of the ball in such a way so as to maintain the core at the center of the ball. A swirling motion of the fluid within the hollow inner core determines the motion of the ball and a direction of travel away from a point of contact at which a force is applied to the ball to cause it to move or change direction. The direction of travel of the ball will be to the right when a counterclockwise spin is applied to the ball at the point of contact, the direction of travel of the ball will be to the left when it a clockwise spin is applied to the ball at the point of contact, and the direction of travel of the ball will be straight when a top spin is applied to ball at the point of contact. The weight ratio of the fluid to the ball without the fluid is approximately 1:1 or greater.

Abstract: Concentrations of N gas species can be detected from a single beam NDIR gas sensor having a differential infrared source and an (N+1)-passband filter (having a neutral passband and N absorption passbands for N gases) mounted at a single infrared detector by driving the infrared source with N input power levels to render the source into emitting at N distinct temperatures whose radiation outputs are characterized by N corresponding Planck curves which are dependent only upon the respective source temperatures and which link a Spectral Radiant Emittance MsubLamba with wavelength, measuring N detector outputs at the single infrared detector and detecting the concentrations of N different gas species, each of the N gas species having its own unique infrared absorption passband, by (a) setting up N causality relationship equations linking outputs of the detector respectively for N different source temperatures and a set of relevant parameters of the sensor components, (b) determining the values of all of the param

Abstract: The concentration of a gas species is detected by using a single beam NDIR gas sensor in which an infrared source element is driven at two different temperatures, a feed back loop senses an operation voltage of the source, a differential gain amplifier creates a high cycle amplified output during a high cycle and a low cycle amplified output during a low cycle while a controller synchronizes the source driver so that a signal processor can determine the gas concentration through use of the high cycle amplified output and the low cycle amplified output. The infrared source can be a non-genuine blackbody source such as an incandescent miniature light bulb when the sample chamber is a thermally insulated aluminum tube that is maintained at a preselected temperature greater than ambient so that the glass envelope of the bulb is maintained at an equilibrium temperature (such as approximately 30 degrees Celsius plus or minus two degrees Celsius) during its low cycle operation state.

Abstract: Games (such as any poker game, whether it be draw poker, stud poker or a community card poker and, more particularly, a Texas hold 'em game or a variant in which players are either initially dealt four cards or the seventh card is dealt face down to individual players) normally played with a traditional deck of cards in accordance with a preselected set of rules for the game are played with a Chinese poker deck of 52 cards and the following additional rules: any player with the right to use a first wild card may designate the first card to be any card contained in the Chinese poker deck but no player may use more than one wild card and any player who can not make a hand because the player has more than one wild card looses the hand to any player who can make a hand. The Chinese poker deck has three different sets of nine cards in three suits (e.g.

Abstract: An East-West casino offers two or more gambling games in which at least one game involves a Feng Shui element of chance and the other involves either a game based upon a new Chinese Poker Deck of cards or a video slot machine having a carousel in which two or more wheels rotate in opposite directions and a random event associated with the two or more wheels is used in connection with a payout or bonus round of the video slot machine. The game involving a Feng Shui element of chance can be a Yin-Yang roulette game or a video slot machine (which may at least partially based upon the Chinese Poker Deck) or a Feng Shui keno machine while a game based upon the Chinese Poker Deck may be a poker game and the casino itself may be a website. The video slot machine can use a carousel in which two or more wheels (which need not be round) rotate in opposite directions and additional wheel can be added in which symbols are shuffled.

Abstract: A deck of 52 cards has 27 cards with three sets of numbers 1-9 and suits circles, bamboo and script; another 20 twenty cards worth 10 made up of wind directions East (“E”), South (“S”), West (“W”) and North (“N”), plus a Green Dragon (“GD”), each having four identical cards; and 5 Feng Shui cards worth 11 ranked in value from F1 to F5. The deck can be used to play Poker-like games with a hierarchical ranking for cards in the deck of: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, GD, E, S, W, N, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. A new game using the deck is to deal player(s) and a dealer three cards, two of the dealer's cards facing down and the other up. Player(s) select one or more cards until all players stand or bust, unless a player's initial cards are all 10s (i.e., E, S, W, N or GD), which is an instant win. Next, the dealer's down cards are shown and the dealer draws cards until a bust or the unit digit sum of the dealer's cards is five or less (unless the dealer has 3 10 cards, in which case the dealer wins).

Abstract: A game uses a deck of cards having three sets of cards with designations 1 through 9, five cards with a Feng Shui designation, four cards with a Green Dragon designation, four cards with an East Wind designation, four cards with a South Wind designation, four cards with a West Wind designation and four cards with a North Wind designation. A player and a dealer hand, each with two cards, is generated and then it is determined whether either or both hands will receive one more card (the player hand can get hit if its cards have a ranking below a first number while the dealer hand can get hit if its cards have a ranking below a second, higher number) and then the hand with the highest ranking of cards is declared the winner. The rankings are based upon pairs of cards according to a preselected order. Players can be allowed to bet on the player's hand or the dealer's hand although a rake is taken from winnings bet on the dealer's hand and bonus bets can be paid when the winning hand is a certain ranking.

Abstract: A method for playing language puzzle games involving a unit of meaning in the Chinese language made up of a string of characters in which each character in the string is decomposed into radicals having from one to four strokes and all of the radicals are combined, and randomly mixed, to become a group of radicals. A player is given a category clue for the unit of meaning, the combined group of radicals and a number of characters in the string of characters, and then the player is allowed to attempt to guess the unit of meaning based upon a preselected method of revealing information relating to the combined group of radicals to the player.

Abstract: A game and method for playing games uses a carousel wheel contained in a storage medium (e.g., a compact disc or DVD) used to generate the carousel on a screen (e.g., a television screen when a DVD is used with a DVD player or a screen receiving input from a computer). The carousel wheel has an inner wheel divided into x inner wheel segments, each of which bears an inner wheel designation, a middle wheel divided into y segments, each of which bears a middle wheel designation, and an outer wheel divided into z outer equal segments, each of which bears an outer wheel designation, wherein y?is x, z?y and both y and z are divisible by x (e.g., x=6, y=12 and z=24).

Abstract: A slot machine that allows a player to make multiple bets of differing amounts for a simulated roll of three dice, and also allows the player to bet upon the selection of a given Feng Shui indictor from a set of Feng Shui indicators. The slot machine contains a display mechanism that includes a carousel wheel having inner and middle wheels divided into 6 segments and an outer wheel divided into six pairs of segments. Each wheel contains the numbers 1 to 6 and the outer wheel also contains the Feng Shui indicators. The carousel can be spun so that its wheels rotate with different degrees of freedom and independently of one another; the inner and middle wheels can spin in opposite directions of each other while the outer wheel can remain stationary while its designators are shuffled.

Abstract: A game of chance using a carousel wheel having an inner wheel divided into six inner wheel segments, a middle wheel divided into twelve segments, and an outer wheel divided into twenty-four outer equal segments. Each of the segments bears one of four secondary designations. When the carousel is spun, each of its wheels rotate with its own independent degree of freedom; when the spinning stops each of the inner wheel segments aligns itself with two of the middle wheel segments and four of the outer wheel segments. The game can be played in a casino game parlor having multiple tables for two to four players that use one or more carousel wheels displayed about the parlor, or each table, or some of the tables, can have their own carousel, or the game can be played by two or more players remotely located, each of which has an electronic device that is connected to the other players of the game.

Abstract: A gambling method allows players to make one or more bets dependent upon the outcome of a gaming selection of three dice and a fourth dice containing 6 feng shui elements. The method can be played using a carousel wheel with an inner wheel divided into six inner wheel segments bearing the numbers 1 to 6, a middle wheel divided into six segments bearing the numbers 1 to 6, and an outer wheel divided into six outer segments bearing the numbers 1 to 6, while the six different feng shui choices are randomly varied and assigned to one of the outer wheel segments. The carousel can be spun so that each of the inner, the middle and the outer wheels rotate with its own independent degree of freedom, and the inner wheel and the middle wheel rotate in opposite directions when the carousel is spun.

Abstract: A method for implementing an anonymous payment card transaction, in either a face-to-face transaction or a MOTO transaction, in which the user is allowed to select an option for anonymous delivery of goods. The option is conveyed to a money source by means of a customization parameter. The customization parameter is used to customize generation of a user one-time payment card number, to customize a user identifier or as a customization variable that is included in a user transaction data packet which includes the user one-time payment card number and the user identifier. A delivery agent can be used to deliver the purchased goods to a delivery location that is not known by the merchant by use of a tracking identifier provided by the money source to the merchant and the delivery agent.

Abstract: A user can customize use of a payment card, which can be an electronic card, by selecting a customization variable for any given transaction. The customization variable involves at least one of the following steps: (1) customizing generation of a one-time card number; (2) customizing a user identifier; or (3) inclusion of a customization variable with information transmitted to a verification agency for validation of the given use. Multiple payment card transactions can be processed differently depending upon which customization variable is chosen for a given transaction. Different customization variables can be used for different accounts, different types of transactions, or to classify the transactions. A user can receive one bill, or multiple bills. Different levels of privacy can be accorded to transactions that use different customization variables. A user may pay the issuer for increased security, or the user may be paid by the issuer to allow transaction data to be distributed to third parties.