Abstract: An apparatus 10 for poling piezoelectric material includes a platen 22 which holds a sample 20 of piezoelectric material to be poled and a stage 30 to which the platen is mounted. The stage 30 is arranged to selectively move the platen 22 and thereby the sample 20 which the platen 22 holds. The platen 22 is movable by the stage 30 selectively between a first position and a second position. A corona source 40 generates a corona to which the sample 20 is exposed when the platen 22 is moved to the first position by the stage 30. An electrostatic voltmeter 60 having a probe 62 measures a surface potential of the sample 20 when the platen 22 is moved to the second position by the stage 30.

Abstract: A method for controlling a peripheral hardware device connected to a computer system is disclosed, the computer system includes a first operating system, acting as the host operating system, running on a first processor platform, and a generic device driver operating on the combination of the first operating system and first processor platform. The method includes delivering the peripheral hardware device with an original peripheral hardware device driver file written for a second operating system or a second processor platform, handling, by the generic device driver, interfaces between the first operating system, the peripheral hardware device and a software application, all configured to interact with the original peripheral device driver file, and emulating, by the generic device driver, at least a part of the second operating system and the second processor that are required for the peripheral hardware device to operate on the first operating system and the first processor.

Abstract: A method for controlling a peripheral hardware device connected to a computer system is disclosed, the computer system includes an operating system, acting as the host operating system, running on a processor platform, and a generic device driver configured to operate on the combination of the operating system and a processor platform. The peripheral hardware device is delivered with an original peripheral hardware device driver file written for at least one of another operating system and a another processor platform, handling, by the generic device driver, interfaces between the operating system, the peripheral hardware devices and a software application. These are configured to interact with the original peripheral device driver file, and emulating, by the generic device driver, at least a part of the another operating system and the another processor that are required for the peripheral hardware device to operate on the operating system and the processor.