Abstract: A new system and method for calibrating the field-of-view of a sensor that is part of a vehicle occupancy sensing system. Calibration is carried out by generating an image of the vehicle interior and then identifying within the image at least one distinctive feature of the vehicle interior. The location of the distinctive feature(s) identified in the image are then compared to a set of reference points for a plurality of different sensor positions. The presumed sensor position that corresponds to the set of reference points that most closely match the location of the identified distinctive feature(s) is then presumed to estimate the actual position of the sensor.

Abstract: An integrated vehicle voice enhancement system and hands-free cellular telephone system implements microphone steering techniques and noise reduction filtering to improve the intelligibility and clarity of transmitted signals. A microphone steering switch is provided for the cellular telephone interface which allows only one of the microphones to be switched in to an “on” state at any given time. The microphone steering switch generates a raw telephone input switch that is a combination of 100% of the designated primary microphone signal and approximately 20% of the microphone signals from microphones in the “off” state. In this manner, the telephone line does not appear dead to a listener on the other end of the telephone line when speech is not present in the telephone input signal. A noise reduction filter filters the raw telephone signal in the time domain in real time to improve the clarity of the telephone input signal when speech is present in the telephone input signal.

Abstract: A digital voice enhancement communication system, including a simplex system, has first and second acoustic zones, and respective microphones and loudspeakers. A voice sensitive gated switch has a first mode supplying the output of a first microphone in the first zone over a first channel to a second loudspeaker in the second zone, and has a second mode supplying the output of a second microphone in the second zone over a second channel to the first loudspeaker in the first zone. First and second noise sensitive bandpass filters and first and second equalization filters are provided in the first and second channels, respectively. Each noise sensitive bandpass filter is a noise responsive highpass filter having a filter cutoff effective at elevated noise levels and reducing bandwidth and making more gain available, to improve intelligibility of speech of a person in the respective zone transmitted from the respective microphone to the loudspeaker in the other zone.

Abstract: Using a set of basis vectors, output from an adaptive control filter or adaptation of the control filter can be selectively constrained. Selected basis vectors define an adaptation subspace. The adaptive control filter can have a bank of non-adaptive FIR filters and a linear combiner with adaptive weights and fixed weights, or can use projection methods in conjunction with conventional adaptive FIR or IIR filter models. Filtered-X and filtered-U techniques can also be used.

Abstract: An apparatus for correcting patient motion between views in a medical imaging device employing multiple views in the generation of an image, and where some view data is truncated as a result of the finite area of the detector array, establishes a last row in the matrix of data for each view prior to and independent of the truncation for the purposes of evaluating motion. The data prior to this last row is compared with the data from the previous view with repeated relative shifts between the data to determine a lowest difference sum. Several difference sums may be employed to determine a shifting amount including a fractional part of a row.

Abstract: A fuel cell stack includes a plurality of fuel cells juxtaposed with one another in the stack and each including a pair of plate-shaped anode and cathode electrodes that face one another, and a quantity of liquid electrolyte present at least between the electrodes. A separator plate is interposed between each two successive electrodes of adjacent ones of the fuel cells and is unified therewith into an integral separator plate. Each integral separator plate is provided with a circumferentially complete barrier that prevents flow of shunt currents onto and on an outer peripheral surface of the separator plate. This barrier consists of electrolyte-nonwettable barrier members that are accommodated, prior to the formation of the integral separator plate, in corresponding edge recesses situated at the interfaces between the electrodes and the separator plate proper.