Abstract: Furniture with a heated seat consists of a fixed furniture frame having a seating surface to accommodate one or more cushions. One or more removable cushions are positioned on the seating surface. Each removable cushion includes a foam body. An electric heating pad is supported by the foam body. A cushion cover is provided that overlies the foam body. An umbilical power cord is electrically coupled to the heating pad. The umbilical power cord extends from the foam body through an opening in the cushion cover and connects with an electrical connector of a power transformer module on the furniture frame. Power is supplied by the power transformer module to the heating pad when the activation switch of the power transformer module is in the “on” position.

Abstract: Furniture with a heated seat consists of a fixed furniture frame having a seating surface to accommodate one or more cushions. One or more removable cushions are positioned on the seating surface. Each removable cushion includes a foam body. An electric heating pad is supported by the foam body. A cushion cover is provided that overlies the foam body. An umbilical power cord is electrically coupled to the heating pad. The umbilical power cord extends from the foam body through an opening in the cushion cover and connects with an electrical connector of a power transformer module on the furniture frame. Power is supplied by the power transformer module to the heating pad when the activation switch of the power transformer module is in the “on” position.

Abstract: Rate detection of a data rate within a sequence of transmitted symbols employs correlation to calculate estimates of the auto-correlation values, or estimated coefficients, of the sequence. When the sequence of transmitted symbols includes repeated symbol values, the auto-correlation values indicate a degree of self-similarity within the sequence. A decision statistic may be formed from the auto-correlation values. The self-similarity of the auto-correlation values may be employed as a decision statistic with associated hypothesis test pair values. Various decision methods may be implemented to compare auto-correlation values to thresholds based on the hypothesis test pair values. Based on the comparison, the data rate of the sequence may be determined. Once the information is determined related to the data rate, the information may be employed by a Viterbi detector to adjust the decoding rate for decoding the symbols.

Abstract: An electrical outlet protective cover 10 is described for mounting to ungrounded or grounded electrical outlet receptacles for preventing a child from inserting a foreign object into the receptacle or from inserting an electrical plug. The cover 10 has a back plate 52 with receptacle apertures 68, 70 for receiving the receptacle. The cover has a front panel 54 substantially forward of the back plate 52 forming shutter cavities 56 therebetween. Shutters 60, 62 are slidably mounted in the cavities 56 for horizontal movement between offset positions and aligned positions. Each of the shutters 60,62 have slots or apertures 88, 90, 92 for receiving corresponding electrical plug progngs. The slots 88 and 90 are of an enlarged size to accommodate ungrounded prongs or grounded prongs. The cover 10 has plug passageways 76 and 78 aligned with the receptacle apertures 68 and 70 respectively for preventing a child from touching the prongs when a plug is being inserted into a receptacle.

Abstract: A pattern recognition system is disclosed with working area detection which automatically positions a field in a proper position with respect to an optical scanning means to optimize the pattern recognition and to automatically enable examination of the field in a good working area. The system has particular application to the examination of blood smears on a slide by enabling the positioning of the slide to enable examination of the blood smear in a good working area without operator intervention.