Abstract: In accordance with the equipment of the present invention, the communication over the entire region of a wide working site can be performed without a cost increase due to the installation of auxiliary equipment, the mutual control of vehicles can be performed with a light burden on a monitoring station without sacrificing safety, and when a failure occurs to transmission/reception equipment, the failure can be quickly and accurately confirmed, and accordingly the abnormality can be quickly and properly dealt with. In the of the present invention, first transmission/reception system for transmitting/receiving at least command data between the monitoring station and a plurality of vehicles via a first communication system which enables wireless communication over the distances between the monitoring station and the vehicles is provided in the monitoring station and the vehicles respectively.

Abstract: An apparatus for improving the reliability of a course generator of a moving body and the efficiency of the moving body. When the tangent (53) of a scheduled course (50) at its branch point (PS) is in parallel with a line segment (54) coincident with the traveling direction of the moving body (20) at the end point (PL) of a branch course (52), the branch course (52) is generated from a cubic curve having one extreme coincident with the branch point (PS), and the tangent of the cubic curve at this extreme coincides with the tangent (53) of the scheduled course (50) at the branch point (PS). The other extreme of the cubic curve coincides with the end point (PL) of the branch course (52), and the tangent of the curve at this extreme coincides with a line segment (54) which in turn coincides with an end point traveling direction of the moving body. A ground monitor station (40) guides and travels the moving body (20) along a modification of the branch course.

Abstract: A teaching method includes dividing an automatic traveling course (96) into a plurality of zones before teaching, conducting teaching for each zone of a plurality of zones at the time of teaching so as to generate position coordinate data for each zone as course data for each zone, and combining course data for respective zones and store the same after teaching. An apparatus includes a teaching zone designating function section (41) for designating a zone inside an automatic traveling course (96) divided into a plurality of zones, a position coordinate data function section (42) of an unmanned vehicle (3), zone-specific traveling course data memory means (43), a teaching course data writing function section (44) for writing the position coordinate, a teaching data edit instruction function section (45) for outputting an instruction after the completion of teaching route, and a total traveling course data edit function section (46) for combining and editing the traveling course data.

Abstract: The present invention is a method and an apparatus for preventing the entrance of an unmanned dump truck, so that an interference and a collision between the unmanned dump trucks and a working vehicle in the working area are prevented. In the method, an unmanned dump truck (3) enters the working area (91) only when another dump truck (3a) is not in the working area (91) and the working vehicle (92) in the working area (91) issues an entrance permission command. The apparatus includes entrance permission means (22), provided on the working vehicle (92), and computing means (11), for outputting a control command thus permitting the unmanned dump truck (3) to enter only when another dump truck (3a) is not in the working area (91) and an entrance permission command is inputted into the apparatus.

Abstract: All of reference data are stored into a memory of a device main body and the reference data according to a condition at that time is written into a reference data memory built in an image processing IC of a scanner cartridge. By correcting an image signal by using the reference data, an image can be read at a high quality without increasing a memory capacity in the cartridge.

Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a line sensor for reading an image of a document sheet, an A/D converter for converting image data from the line sensor to multi-level image data, a binarization comparator for converting the multi-level image data from the A/D converter to bi-level image data and an image processing IC for selectively outputting the multi-level image data from the A/D converter and the bi-level image data from the binarization comparator. The number of read pixels in the multi-level image data output mode is set to be smaller than the number of read pixels in the bi-level image data output mode.

Abstract: A cage for a roller bearing which is free of fretting and abnormal noise, which can be manufactured at low cost, and which can be easily mounted in the bearing. The cage is formed by bending a metal sheet having pockets into a ring shape, temporarily joining its ends, heat-treating the ring thus formed to remove stress, and separating the temporarily joined portion. Such a cage tends to rotate slower than the raceway members on the driving side of the bearing, making it possible to reduce fretting. Such a cage can be used under high-temperature conditions.

Abstract: Disclosed is a coordinate input apparatus including a vibrating input pen 3, a piezoelectric element 4 in the pen 3, a vibration transfer plate 8 and vibration sensors 6 provided around the vibration transfer plate 8. The vibrator 4 is driven by a vibrator driving circuit 2 to generate a vibration, which is transmitted to vibration transfer plate 8. The apparatus is capable of calculating coordinate thereon accurately with phase information of detected signal waveform.

Abstract: There is provided a coordinates input apparatus in which a vibration input from a vibration pen having a piezoelectric transducer is detected by a plurality of vibration sensors attached to a vibration propagating plates such as an input tablet and the coordinates of this pen on the plate are detected. The tip of the vibration input pen is made of a material of a resin of the polyamideimide system such as thermoplastic polyamideimide or aromatic polyamideimide. With this material, a desired image can be smoothly input to the input tablet without scratching the glass surface thereof and the accurate coordinates can be detected.

Abstract: An information apparatus comprises a main apparatus and a subsidiary apparatus which are separable. The main and subsidiary apparatuses has electrical connectors which are connected substantially automatically when the two apparatuses are attached. The connectors are provided with covers which are movable in association with the attaching procedure. Thereby, the connectors can be kept clean and free from dust contamination or breakage, and the reliability of the information apparatus can be enhanced.

Abstract: Vibration applied to a tablet is sensed by a sensor provided on the tablet and a time delay from generation of the vibration to the sensing thereof is measured, whereby distance from the vibration source to the sensor can be measured. If the vicinity of the leading edge of the envelope of registration is sensed when sensing the vibration, the effects of reflected waves from the periphery of the tablet are reduced. To this end, the envelope is differentiated to detect an inflection point. The peak gain frequency of the differentiating circuit is greater than the frequency of vibration generated by the vibration source. As a result, the phase of the output signal produced by the differentiating circuit is advanced by about .pi./2 with respect to the phase of the input signal, thereby making it possible to sense vibration more quickly.

Abstract: Oscillation applied to a tablet is sensed by a sensor on the tablet and a time delay from generation of the oscillation to the sensing thereof is measured, whereby distance from the oscillation source to the sensor can be measured. If this distance is measured for each of a plurality of different sensors, the position of the oscillation source on the tablet can be determined. The measured delay time includes not only time for transmission through the tablet but also an error. Accordingly, the delay time between the oscillation source and a sensor is not used as is, one of the sensors is adopted as a reference sensor and a difference in delay time between this sensor and the oscillation source is used to measure the distance between the oscillation source and each sensor. As a consequence, errors attributable to respective sensors are canceled out so that measurement precision is improved.

Abstract: A cage for a roller bearing which is free of fretting and abnormal noise, which can be manufactured at low cost, and which can be easily mounted in the bearing. The cage is formed by bending a metal sheet having pockets into a ring shape, temporarily joining its ends, heat-treating the ring thus formed to remove stress, and separating the temporarily joined portion. Such a cage tends to rotate slower than the raceway members on the driving side of the bearing, making it possible to reduce fretting. Such a cage can be used under high-temperature conditions.

Abstract: Disclosed is a coordinate input apparatus for detecting an input vibration from a vibration pen by a vibration sensor provided on a vibration transmitting plate to measure a vibration transmission time to the vibration pen to detect the input coordinates of the vibration pen on the vibration transmitting plate on the basis of the measurement result. The vibration pen is made wireless by incorporating all mechanisms required to generate the vibration. A drive timing for vibration input from the vibration pen and used as a measurement origin of the vibration transmission time is transmitted to a main body for performing the coordinate detection processing by bringing the vibration pen in temporary contact with the main body.

Abstract: Some components of a vibration input to an input guarantee region on a vibration transmission plate directly reach a vibration sensor, but some other components are reflected by the end portion of the vibration transmission plate, and then reach the vibration sensor. A vibration suppressor is attached to a peripheral edge of the vibration transmission plate, and is located along the path of the vibration reflected by the end portion of the vibration transmission plate to the vibration sensor. Since the vibration sensor is attached to a corner portion of the vibration transmission plate where no vibration suppressor is attached, a decrease in coordinate detection precision caused by reflected waves can be suppressed, and a compact apparatus can be realized.

Abstract: An apparatus for measuring a thickness of plate material includes a plate material whose thickness is to be measured, a vibration pen to generate a plate wave by applying a vibration to the plate material, a vibration sensor which is disposed at an arbitrary position on the plate material and detects the plate wave which has propagated on the plate material, an extracting circuit to extract different frequency components of the plate wave detected by the vibration sensor, a timer to measure arrival times to the vibration sensor of the signals of the different frequency components extracted by the extracting circuit, and a controller to obtain a thickness of the plate material on the basis of the arrival times measured by the timer and the frequency components corresponding thereto. The extracting circuit is a band pass filter.

Abstract: A coordinate position correcting apparatus includes a setting device for setting in advance a coordinate to be input into a vibration input device, a correction coefficient calculator for calculating a correction coefficient as a ratio of the coordinate set by the setting device to a coordinate output by calculation, and a coordinate corrector for correcting the coordinate output by calculation on the basis of the correction coefficient calculated by the correction coefficient calculator.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for recognizing characters in image information includes inputting image coordinate data corresponding to the handwritten image, displaying a calligraphic image on the basis of the image coordinate data, recognizing characters in the image coordinate data, and erasing the calligraphic image and displaying recognized characters recognized in the recognizing step in the event that a recognized character is a predetermined character such as a period (".").

Abstract: A coordinate input apparatus according to the present invention eliminates distortion caused by interference of a asymmetrical plate wave with an asymmetrical plate wave from the vibrations which are detected after they have been propagated in a vibration transmitting member and performs a highly accurate position coordinate detection. The vibrations of a pen which is brought into contact with the vibration transmitting member are detected by sensors provided on both the front and rear surfaces of the vibration transmitting member to determine a coordinate of a position where the vibrating pen has been brought into contact. At that time, the vibration sensors mounted on the front and rear of the vibration transmitting member in an opposed relation detect vibrations on the two surfaces of the transmitting member. The signals which are detected by each pair of front and rear sensors represent vibrations in which the asymmetrical plate waves having the same phase and the 180.degree.

Abstract: A coordinates input apparatus for detecting coordinate values of an arbitrary point by indicating the arbitrary point on a vibration transmission plate by a vibration input pen for generating a vibration, comprises: a plurality of sensors, arranged at predetermined positions in the vibration transmission plate, for detecting the vibration generated by the indication by the vibration input pen, for converting the vibration into electric signals, and for outputting; a measuring circuit to measure delay times from a time point when the arbitrary point has been indicated by the vibration input pen until time points when the electric signals are detected; an obtaining circuit to obtain origin correction data from a plurality of points on the vibration transmission plate; a memory to store the origin correction data; and a processor for reading out the origin correction data from the memory, for correcting the coordinate values on the basis of the delay times measured by the measuring circuit and the origin correct