Abstract: A programmable MEMS diffractive optical processor having actuatable grating elements that are optically adjacent and supported at points intermediate the ends of the grating elements. The grating elements are maintained substantially flat during actuation of the grating elements.

Abstract: A dielectric loaded cavity filter having a housing and a cover and defining at least two adjacent cavities having respective dielectric resonators mounted therein and separated by a transverse partition defining a coupling window in the housing. In one form, the coupling window has two spaced opposing sidewalls confronting each other, and vertically offset shoulders intermediate their length. A conductive coupling strip is secured to the shoulder of one sidewall and extends across the coupling window and over the shoulder of the other sidewall. A tuning screw is secured by threading to the housing and has an outer free end accessible from the exterior of the filter, and an internal end disposed adjacent the coupling strip, whereby when the tuning screw is rotated, the internal end of the screw moves toward and away from the coupling strip in a direction perpendicular to the cover for tuning without requiring access to the coupling strip.

Abstract: Disclosed is a computer in which an error caused by an intermittent failure is corrected by using a misprediction recovery mechanism which performs recovery processing if, after having predicted a branch destination of a branch instruction and speculatively executed an instruction at the predicted branch destination, it turns out that the branch prediction was wrong. The computer includes an error detection mechanism for detecting an error in logic operation of the computer, and an instruction re-execution mechanism for correcting an error caused by an intermittent failure when an error is detected by the error detection mechanism, by restoring the computer, using the misprediction recovery mechanism, to a state that existed before the occurrence of the error, and by re-executing a sequence of instructions including the instruction where the error is detected.

Abstract: Optical processing apparatus for processing a stream of light. The apparatus includes a light input emitted, for example, by fiber optic cable. Multiple wavelength bands of light are, typically, emitted and transmitted in a direction parallel to an axis. The apparatus also includes a plurality of receptors which are positioned at defined locations spaced from one another. A diffracting member is employed to diffract the wavelength bands of light transmitted parallel to the axis. In one embodiment of the invention, the diffracting member is a controllable diffraction grating. The wavelength bands are selectively diffracted to various of the receptors. The apparatus further includes a controller for selectively adjusting the diffracting member to independently vary a particular receptor to which any one wavelength band is diffracted.

Abstract: An optical apparatus is disclosed for processing light that based on a pair of diffraction gratings operating in tandem, with one of the gratings being a fixed diffraction grating and with the other grating being electrically programmable. The combination of the fixed and electrically-programmable diffraction gratings provides a spectral resolution and dispersion higher than that of either diffraction grating when used alone. These two diffraction gratings can be formed on different substrates, or alternately be combined to form a composite diffraction grating. The electrically-programmable diffraction grating can be operated in either a singly-periodic mode or a multi-periodic mode to select particular wavelengths of the incident light for analysis and detection, or for transferring between optical fibers (e.g. wavelength division multiplexing or demultiplexing). In some cases, a prism can be substituted for the fixed diffraction grating or used in addition to the fixed grating.

Abstract: A dielectric loaded cavity filter having a housing and a cover and defining at least two adjacent cavities having respective dielectric resonators mounted therein and separated by a transverse partition defining a coupling window in the housing. In one form, the coupling window has two spaced opposing sidewalls confronting each other, and vertically offset shoulders intermediate their length. A conductive coupling strip is secured to the shoulder of one sidewall and extends across the coupling window and over the shoulder of the other sidewall. A tuning screw is secured by threading to the housing and has an outer free end accessible from the exterior of the filter, and an internal end disposed adjacent the coupling strip, whereby when the tuning screw is rotated, the internal end of the screw moves toward and away from the coupling strip in a direction perpendicular to the cover for tuning without requiring access to the coupling strip.

Abstract: An interlocking corrugated fluted panel for use in constructing a foundation wall for a building where a plurality of the panels are attached to a presupported building member and the panels hang downwardly into a foundation support opening. At the bottom portion of each fluted panel, the flutes extending outwardly from the building are cut along a bend line and the bottom portion of the panel is bent inwardly approximately 90°, the bent portion forming an anchorage when concrete is placed around the bottom of the panels. At the lower edge of each panel a cut flute is bent into either an interlocking male or female shape.

Abstract: The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processor includes a plurality of pipelined, functionally identical stages, each stage adapted to perform a portion of an FFT operation on a block of data. The output of the last stage of the processor is the high-precision Fast Fourier Transform of the data block. Support functions are included at each stage. Thus, each stage includes a computational element and a buffer memory interface. Each stage also includes apparatus for coefficient generation.

Abstract: A perimeter-wall foundation is created by attaching galvanized-steel corrugated panels to an in-place structure. The freely hanging bottom edges of the panels, which have continuous deformation specific to the enhancement of bearing and anchorage within concrete, are cast in-situ with footing concrete, so becoming a cast-in-place perimeter-wall foundation, capable of residential-scale bearing and shear loadings. The panels can have screened ventilation built into the top, utilizing corrugation flute apertures, or they can be thermally optimized for cold climates.

Abstract: By measuring two or more physical parameters of a thin sensing film which are altered when exposed to chemicals, more effective discrimination between chemicals can be achieved. In using more than one sensor, the sensors are preferably integrated on the same substrate so that they may measure the same thin film. Even more preferably, the sensors are provided orthogonal to one another so that they may measure the same portion of the thin film. These provisions reduce problems in discrimination arising from variations in thin films.

Abstract: Optical apparatus for forming correlation spectrometers and optical processors. The optical apparatus comprises one or more diffractive optical elements formed on a substrate for receiving light from a source and processing the incident light. The optical apparatus includes an addressing element for alternately addressing each diffractive optical element thereof to produce for one unit of time a first correlation with the incident light, and to produce for a different unit of time a second correlation with the incident light that is different from the first correlation. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the optical apparatus is in the form of a correlation spectrometer; and in other embodiments, the apparatus is in the form of an optical processor. In some embodiments, the optical apparatus comprises a plurality of diffractive optical elements on a common substrate for forming first and second gratings that alternately intercept the incident light for different units of time.

Abstract: A new chemical probe determines the properties of an analyte using the light absorption of the products of a reagent/analyte reaction. The probe places a small reaction volume in contact with a large analyte volume. Analyte diffuses into the reaction volume. Reagent is selectively supplied to the reaction volume. The light absorption of the reaction in the reaction volume indicates properties of the original analyte. The probe is suitable for repeated use in remote or hostile environments. It does not require physical sampling of the analyte or result in significant regent contamination of the analyte reservoir.

Abstract: A non-piezoelectric flexural plate wave apparatus having meander-line transducers mounted on a non-piezoelectric membrane. A static magnetic field is directed perpendicularly to the conductive legs of the transducers in the plane of the membrane. Single-port, two-port, resonant, non-resonant, eigenmode, and delay-line modes may be employed.

Abstract: An apparatus and method is provided for separating and analyzing chemical species in an ion mobility spectrometer using a frequency-domain technique wherein the ions generated from the chemical species are selectively transported through an ion flow channel having a moving electrical potential therein. The moving electrical potential allows the ions to be selected according to ion mobility, with certain of the ions being transported to an ion detector and other of the ions being effectively discriminated against. The apparatus and method have applications for sensitive chemical detection and analysis for monitoring of exhaust gases, hazardous waste sites, industrial processes, aerospace systems, non-proliferation, and treaty verification. The apparatus can be formed as a microelectromechanical device (i.e. a micromachine).

Abstract: An electrically-programmable diffraction grating. The programmable grating includes a substrate having a plurality of electrodes formed thereon and a moveable grating element above each of the electrodes. The grating elements are electrostatically programmable to form a diffraction grating for diffracting an incident beam of light as it is reflected from the upper surfaces of the grating elements. The programmable diffraction grating, formed by a micromachining process, has applications for optical information processing (e.g. optical correlators and computers), for multiplexing and demultiplexing a plurality of light beams of different wavelengths (e.g. for optical fiber communications), and for forming spectrometers (e.g. correlation and scanning spectrometers).

Abstract: A foundation structure comprises a plurality of light metal parts which assemble and secure in place prior to placement of foundation in situ concrete. Assemblage is supported by coarsely threaded rods which screw directly into earth and attach to parts by various methods. Some parts remain in place as permanent supporting members for superimposed structure. Others, which generally form surfaces of foundation concrete, subsequently relocate to become either similar permanent structural members, or inventory for subsequent projects. Use of a computer aided design program assists in optimal configuration of parts, and creates a list of parts with necessary cut and piecemark information for automated fabrication of any particular length parts. This information, along with a computer produced schematic plan, allows use of parts as collocation elements which define a distinct foundation design by simple field assembly.

Abstract: A controls system architecture for an image output terminal (IOT) has a hierarchical structure which isolates subsystem controls for purposes of efficient algorithm design, analysis and implementation. The architecture is preferably divided into three levels and has a controls supervisor which provides subsystem isolation functions and reliability assurance functions. The architecture improves image quality of IOT outputs by controlling the operation of the IOT to ensure that a toner reproduction curve of an output image matches a tone reproduction curve of an input image, despite several uncontrollable variables which change the tone reproduction curve of the output image.

Abstract: A ferroelectric optical image comparator has a lead lanthanum zirconate titanate thin-film device which is constructed with a semi-transparent or transparent conductive first electrode on one side of the thin film, a conductive metal second electrode on the other side of the thin film, and the second electrode is in contact with a nonconducting substrate. A photoinduced current in the device represents the dot product between a stored image and an image projected onto the first electrode. One-dimensional autocorrelations are performed by measuring this current while displacing the projected image.

Abstract: An electrophotographic apparatus having a densitometer, which measures material density located on a substrate by detecting and analyzing only a single diffuse electromagnetic energy signal reflected off of the density of material located on the substrate. Specifically, the apparatus must first be compensated for environmental and individual machine differences using a high density of the material. Moreover, once compensated, the apparatus is calibrated to determine the relationship between diffuse signals and material density. This relationship is calculated by sampling a clean substrate and low densities of the material. Once the relationship is determined, densities of material can be calculated given a corresponding diffuse signal. The calibrated and compensated density calculations enable accurate monitoring and adjustment of the electrophotographic apparatus color toner development systems.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to an electrographic apparatus and more specifically to an improved structural arrangement in electrographic apparatus of the type having a densitometer, which arrangement achieves improved measuring of marking particle density on a photoreceptor or the like. Wherein, use of a charge-coupled device (CCD) allows for a pixel-by-pixel recordation of the photo intensity reflected off of the photoreceptor and toner test patch. Therefore, as a result of the increased sensitivity of the toner measuring, it is possible to measure denser patches of toner, both black as well as color. Thus allowing for accurate monitoring of the amount of toner capable of being placed onto a photoreceptor.