Abstract: A toy vehicle is disclosed. The toy vehicle includes a chassis, a ground-contacting module and a motorized drive arrangement. The ground-contacting module is coupled to the chassis and has two clusters of wheels. The motorized drive arrangement is coupled to the ground-contacting module. The drive arrangement, ground-contacting module amid chassis constituting a system. The motorized drive arrangement causing, when powered, automatically balanced operation of the system in all operating position that is unstable with respect to tipping in at least a fore-aft plane when the motorized drive arrangement is not powered.

Abstract: A method for controlling a production line for the manufacture and/or packaging of contact lenses which production line simultaneous by processes at least two lots, the method comprising dividing at least a portion of the production line into a series of cells through which the contact lens pass sequentially, and providing a control system comprising at least three shifts registers each containing information about each of said cells, including: (a) a location shift register which indicates whether a cell should be empty or occupied, (b) a lot data shift register which is a non-binary shift register and contains manufacturing and/or prescription data about the contact lens which should be in the cell and (c) a condition shift register which provides an indication of the condition of the product in the cell, and simultaneously indexing all of said shift registers as a lens passes down the production line from one cell to the next cell.

Abstract: A device for transporting a human subject over a surface. The device is a dynamically balancing vehicle having a control loop for providing balance. The device includes a platform defining a fore-aft plane. The platform supports a payload including the human subject. A ground contacting module is included which may include one or more wheels. A ground-contacting member is movably coupled to the platform. The platform and the ground-contacting module form an assembly having a center of gravity that is defined with respect to the ground-contacting member and which includes any loads on the device. The device further includes a support. The support may be a seat for supporting the subject and the support is coupled to the platform in such a manner as to permit variation of the position of the center of gravity in the fore-aft plane by translation and rotation of at least a portion of the support. In one embodiment, translation and rotation of the seat of the device are mechanically coupled together.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a new parallel interference cancellation (PIC) configuration where the PIC is implemented after the rake reception and multipath combining. In the invention disclosed, the regenerated interference contributions (functions of signature sequence cross-correlations) for multiuser detection (MUD) in a multipath radio channel are explicitly filtered through the estimated multipath channels, and stored. These stored quantities already contain the effect of the channel, and only need updating according to the rate of change of channel dynamics, and not the symbol period. During each symbol period, interference is computed from each interfering user to each desired user using current estimates of symbol decisions and the aforementioned interference contributions. The precomputation of the interference contributions, which are valid for a sequence of symbols, allows for extremely low complexity baseband processing in the receiver.

Abstract: An apparatus controller for prompting a rider to be positioned on a vehicle in such a manner as to reduce lateral instability due to lateral acceleration of the vehicle. The apparatus has an input for receiving specification from the rider of a desired direction of travel, and indicating means for reflecting to the rider a propitious instantaneous body orientation to enhance stability in the face of lateral acceleration. The indicating may include a handlebar that is pivotable with respect to the vehicle and that is driven in response to vehicle turning.

Abstract: A method for controlling a production line for the manufacture and/or packaging of contact lenses which production line simultaneous by processes at least two lots, the method comprising dividing at least a portion of the production line into a series of cells through which the contact lens pass sequentially, and providing a control system comprising at least three shifts registers each containing information about each of said cells, including: (a) a location shift register which indicates whether a cell should be empty or occupied, (b) a lot data shift register which is a non-binary shift register and contains manufacturing and/or prescription data about the contact lens which should be in the cell and (c) a condition shift register which provides an indication of the condition of the product in the cell, and simultaneously indexing all of said shift registers as a lens passes down the production line from one cell to the next cell.

Abstract: A method for tracking multiple SKUs of contact lenses in a manufacturing line comprising the steps of: a) moulding a plurality of contact lenses, b) providing a plurality of carriers each having a carrier indicator, c) inspecting each contact lens to determine information relating to its prescription, d) transferring each lens to a carrier, e) reading the carrier indicator of the carrier of step d) and f) storing in machine-accessible memory the information associated with the carrier indicator of the carrier of step (e) and the information relating to the lens for step (c).

Abstract: A verification system for a batch manufacturing process comprises comparing manufacturing order information obtained from an electronic database to the label or other representative data obtained from the beginning and end of the production batch. In a preferred embodiment, an empty carton is produced at the beginning and end of each lot or batch which is read by an OCR and compared to the manufacturing order information retrieved from an electronic database.

Abstract: A device for transporting a human subject over a surface. The device is a dynamically balancing vehicle having a control loop for providing balance. The device includes a platform defining a fore-aft plane. The platform supports a payload including the human subject. A ground contacting module is included which may include one or more wheels. A ground-contacting member is movably coupled to the platform. The platform and the ground-contacting module form an assembly having a center of gravity that is defined with respect to the ground-contacting member and which includes any loads on the device. The device further includes a support. The support may be a seat for supporting the subject and the support is coupled to the platform in such a manner as to permit variation of the position of the center of gravity in the fore-aft plane by translation and rotation of at least a portion of the support. In one embodiment, translation and rotation of the seat of the device are mechanically coupled together.

Abstract: A method of identifying one or more characteristics of an ophthalmic lens by embedding a second marking inside the perimeter of a first marking formed on the lens. In one embodiment, the first marking may be a toric marking indicative of the ballast and/or cylindrical axis and the second marking, placed inside the first marking, may indicate one or more other lens characteristic such as power, SKU or lot number, for example. The invention includes a lens made according to the method.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting under- or over-filling of lenses in packages where ultraviolet radiation is directed to the package.

Abstract: A controller for providing user input of a desired direction of motion or orientation for a transporter. The controller has an input for receiving specification by a user of a value based on a detected body orientation of the user. User-specified input may be conveyed by the user using any of a large variety of input modalities, including: ultrasonic body position sensing; foot force sensing; handlebar lean; active handlebar; mechanical sensing of body position; and linear slide directional input. An apparatus that may include an active handlebar is provided for prompting a rider to be positioned on a vehicle in such a manner as to reduce lateral instability due to lateral acceleration of the vehicle.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting under- or over-filling of lenses in packages where ultraviolet radiation is directed to the package.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting under- or over-filling of lenses in packages where ultraviolet radiation is directed to the package.

Abstract: A balancing vehicle that supports a rider on a support such as a seat in a such a manner as to allow the position of the center of gravity of the vehicle to be varied by motion of the support. Motion of the support additionally provides for control of a drive that propels the vehicle in a manner responsive to the position of the center of gravity. The vehicle is thus capable of control by leaning of a seated rider.

Abstract: A motorized vehicle capable of fault detection and of operation after a fault has been detected. The vehicle has a plurality of control components coupled to a motorized drive and a comparator for comparing the output of each of the control components with outputs of other control components so that failures may be identified. The vehicle may have multiple processors coupled to a plurality of control channels by means of a bus and a decision arrangement that suppresses the output of any processor for which a failure has been identified.