Abstract: A radiant heating assembly for use with systems for heating an enclosed space by circulating a fluid through a closed tubing arrangement is provided. The inventive radiant heating assembly is made up of a radiant heating panel and tubing. The radiant heating panel is made up of a radiant heat transfer plate having a length and center line, and an elongated C-shaped or side opening receptacle that extends along the center line of the plate for receiving the tubing. A plurality of depressions extends along an inner surface of the C-shaped receptacle that interfaces with the plate. The tubing conforms to these depressions, thereby allowing the radiant heating assembly to achieve greater radiant heat dissipation capacity and efficiency.

Abstract: A radiant heating assembly for use with systems for heating an enclosed space by circulating a fluid through a closed tubing arrangement is provided. The inventive radiant heating assembly is made up of a radiant heating panel and tubing. The radiant heating panel is made up of a radiant heat transfer plate having a length and center line, and an elongated C-shaped or side opening receptacle that extends along the center line of the plate for receiving the tubing. A plurality of depressions extends along an inner surface of the C-shaped receptacle that interfaces with the plate. The tubing conforms to these depressions, thereby allowing the radiant heating assembly to achieve greater radiant heat dissipation capacity and efficiency.

Abstract: A telecommunications terminal is disclosed that comprises: a receiver for receiving a geographically-sensitive message and an indicium of a geographic location of relevance; means for ascertaining a geographic location of the telecommunications terminal; and a processor for determining a geographic region of interest based on the geographic location of the telecommunications terminal, for determining whether the geographic location of relevance is within the geographic region of interest, and for disregarding the geographically-sensitive message when the geographic location of relevance is not within the geographic region of interest.

Abstract: A method and system that broadcasts different messages into different geographic areas based on the appropriateness, desirability or necessity of broadcasting each messages to each area is disclosed. In particular, the illustrative embodiment of the present invention is a wireless telecommunications system that uses a portion of its spare bandwidth to broadcast messages to the receivers within its domain. The content of the messages can represent advertising, public service announcements, weather and stock reports, etc. One aspect of the illustrative embodiment is that the domain serviced by it is partitioned into a plurality of tessellated areas called “geographic regions.” From a single broadcast server, the various messages to be broadcast are broadcast not to the entire domain of the system, but to only those geographic regions within the domain where the content of those messages is appropriate, necessary or desirable.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a fingerprint sensing device comprising a planar array of closely-spaced capacitive sense elements. When a finger is placed in close proximity to the sensing device, the capacitive sense elements measure a capacitance between the finger and a single capacitor plate in each sense element. This is accomplished by precharging each capacitor plate, and then using a known current source to remove a fixed amount of charge from each capacitor plate. The measured capacitance varies as a function of the distance between the capacitor plate and the finger surface. Thus, a capacitance measurement allows the distance between the capacitor plate and the finger surface to be determined. Distance measurements across the array of sense elements are combined to produce a representation of the pattern of ridges on the finger surface which comprise a fingerprint.

Abstract: A system and method for authenticating fingerprints includes a remote site having a scanner for generating fingerprint data and an access mechanism. A local site connects to the remote site via transmission cables and includes a processor for extracting minutia from the fingerprint data. A comparator matches the fingerprint data to historical fingerprint data maintained in a database to verify whether the detected fingerprint data falls within statistical maximum deviations and exceeds statistical minimum deviations to establish the authenticity of the fingerprint.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a fingerprint sensing device comprising a planar array of closely-spaced capacitive sense elements. When a finger is placed in close proximity to the sensing device, the capacitive sense elements measure a capacitance between the finger and a single capacitor plate in each sense element. This is accomplished by precharging each capacitor plate, and then using a known current source to remove a fixed amount of charge from each capacitor plate. The measured capacitance varies as a function of the distance between the capacitor plate and the finger surface. Thus, a capacitance measurement allows the distance between the capacitor plate and the finger surface to be determined. Distance measurements across the array of sense elements are combined to produce a representation of the pattern of ridges on the finger surface which comprise a fingerprint.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting topographic variations on an object such as a finger includes an array of sensing elements disposed on a substrate which each have a parasitic capacitance. An insulating receiving surface is disposed over the array of sensing elements and is adapted to receive the object such that a sensing element and a portion of the object located thereabove creates a measurable change in capacitance with respect to the parasitic capacitance. An electronic circuit is coupled to the array of sensing elements for measuring the measurable change in capacitance.

Abstract: Acoustic surveillance of objects and human traffic in spatial zones of a shopping mall and associated retail selling space is used to detect shopper traffic movement and from it, traffic data such as: shopper volume, shopper flow, crowding, and also unusual motion such as crowd surges that might connote an emergency situation. The apparatus uses phased arrays of acoustic transducers including arrays oriented in a vertical aspect which enables differentiation of non-shopping young children to arrive at more accurate headcount figures. Several specific types of detected movement defined as abnormal trigger an alert to a remote monitoring station. The alerts are automatically prioritized using rule-based criteria. Enhanced surveillance of the alert site by audio links as well as site alert history information are also provided.

Abstract: Acoustic surveillance of objects and human traffic in a spatial zone of a financial transaction device is used to detect movement within the zone. Several specific types of detected movement defined as abnormal trigger an alert to a remote monitoring station. The alerts are automatically prioritized using rule-based criteria. Enhanced surveillance of the alert site by audio links as well as site alert history information are provided.

Abstract: A hanging rack device for hanging articles such as neck ties and belts having a base on which is disposed an attachment means such as the hooked material of a hook and burr-type fastener and one or more hanging means for holding said article which can be secured at any position on said attachment means by virtue of a pile material on the surface thereof which is cooperative with said hooked material thus allowing the articles to be hung in any convenient configuration desired.