Abstract: A trace configuration calculating method is applied to pivotal connection of a first workpiece and a hinge. A first trace space is formed at a position where the hinge is pivoted to the first workpiece. A first trace is disposed through the first trace space. The trace configuration calculating method includes the hinge and the first workpiece rotating first and second angles to make the first trace space have first and second contour cross-sections respectively, overlapping the first and second contour cross-sections to form a first intersection area, calculating a first maximum inscribed circle according to the first intersection area, and determining a first optimal center and a first maximum diameter of the first trace according to the first maximum inscribed circle.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that perform occupancy detection. Photoelectric sensors, such as through sensors, are arranged in an angled cross pattern, such that light beams of the through sensors cover a substantial portion of the seating surface of a seat. Upon interruption of a light beam making up the angled cross pattern, an object is detected in the seat. The through sensors may be held in a narrow armrest of a seat by a bracket attached to the seat frame. Further, through sensors for neighboring seats may also be held by the bracket.

Abstract: The present disclosure extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for producing an image in light deficient environments and associated structures, methods and features is disclosed and described. The features of the system may include controlling a light source through duration, intensity or both; pulsing a component controlled light source during the blanking time; maximizing the blanking time to allow optimum light; and maintaining color balance.

Abstract: An apparatus for inspecting or observing a material web, a process of inspecting the material web and a method for operating the apparatus for inspecting or observing the material web are provided. The apparatus has a guiding device through which the material web is guided and a camera including a field of view and configured to record an image of the front side within the field of view. An incident light transmitter is configured to illuminate the front side with incident light, and a background panel is arranged on the rear side of the material web within the field of view. The background panel includes a diffuser plate, a light guide plate, a reflecting surface, and a light source configured to couple light into the light guide plate which is configured to uncouple the light to illuminate the rear side of the material web with transmitted light.

Abstract: A distance measuring device comprises a motor (120), a control box (130) and a code disc (150). Relative rotation occurs between the control box (130) and the code disc (150) driven by the motor. A point position tooth (151A) is comprised on the code disc (150). The control box (130) comprises a distance measuring unit (142), a detection part (144) and a control unit (140). The detection part (144) comprises a light emitter (1440) and a light receiver (1441) which are correspondingly arranged. The control box (130) is rotated relative to the code disc (150), so that the point position tooth (151A) passes through a corresponding position between the light emitter (1440) and the light receiver (1441); the control unit (140) receives the signal output of the light receiver (1441), judges the information on alignment status of the point position tooth (151A) with the corresponding position, and sends a start or stop operation instruction to the distance measuring unit (142) on the basis of the status information.

Abstract: The present disclosure extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for producing an image in light deficient environments and associated structures, methods and features is disclosed and described. The features of the system may include controlling a light source through duration, intensity or both; pulsing a component controlled light source during the blanking time; maximizing the blanking time to allow optimum light; and maintaining color balance.

Abstract: Disclosed is a volume sensor having a first axis, a second axis, and a third axis, each axis including a laser source configured to emit a beam; a parallel beam generating assembly configured to receive the beam and split the beam into a first parallel beam and a second parallel beam, a beam-collimating assembly configured to receive the first parallel beam and the second parallel beam and output a first beam sheet and a second beam sheet, the first beam sheet and the second beam sheet being configured to traverse the object aperture; a first collecting lens and a second collecting lens; and a first photodetector and a second photodetector, the first photodetector and the second photodetector configured to output an electrical signal proportional to the object; wherein the first axis, the second axis, and the third axis are arranged at an angular offset with respect to each other.

Abstract: Embodiments provide grade annunciator systems that allow a lumber workpiece traveling in a workflow path to be to be labeled with a projected image that conveys information about the grade, a cut line, and/or the location of a defect in the workpiece. In some embodiments, the system includes a conveyor configured to convey lumber workpieces in a workflow path, and a projector or series of projectors configured to project an image or symbol onto a surface of the workpiece, wherein the image or symbol indicates grade, a cut line, and/or the location of a defect in the workpiece. Other embodiments are methods of labeling a lumber workpiece in a workflow path, the methods includes conveying the lumber workpiece along the workflow path, and projecting an image or symbol onto a surface of the workpiece as it is conveyed along the workflow path.

Abstract: Disclosed is a volume sensor having first, second, and third laser sources emitting first, second, and third laser beams; first, second, and third beam splitters splitting the first, second, and third laser beams into first, second, and third beam pairs; first, second, and third optical assemblies expanding the first, second, and third beam pairs into first, second, and third pairs of parallel beam sheets; fourth, fifth, and sixth optical assemblies focusing the first, second, and third beam sheet pairs into fourth, fifth, and sixth beam pairs; and first, second, and third detector pairs receiving the fourth, fifth, and sixth beam pairs and converting a change in intensity of at least one of the beam pairs resulting from an object passing through at least one of the first, second, and third parallel beam sheets into at least one electrical signal proportional to a three-dimensional representation of the object.

Abstract: The invention provides a method for detecting objects in samples. The sample is held in the transmission path of light source to a detector, whereby light from the light source interacts with objects in the sample. The patterns of light incident on the detector subsequent to its interaction with the objects are directly used to determine the presence of objects in the sample.

Abstract: A system, for calculating an object location within a portal, includes a portal map formed by a plurality of infra-red beams. The system further includes a broken beam detector for detecting and recording, in response to an object moving through the portal map, data indicative of one or more broken beams of the plurality of infra-red beams. The data includes first data indicative of an initial position of the object within the portal, second data indicative of a subsequent position of the object within the portal, and third data including one or more time records. The system also includes at least one broken beam analyzer for obtaining the data from the broken beam detector, the broken beam analyzer calculating the object location based on at least one of the first data, the second data, and the third data.

Abstract: The invention provides apparatus and methods for detecting objects in samples. The sample is held in the transmission path of light from a light source to a detector, whereby light from the light source interacts with objects in the sample. The patterns of light incident on the detector subsequent to its interaction with the objects are directly used to determine the presence of objects in the sample.

Abstract: A medium accumulating device has an accumulation table on which a medium is accumulated, an elastic member that supports the accumulation table, and an accumulation table detector that detects lowering of the accumulation table. The accumulation table is sensed to determine whether the accumulation table lowers below a predetermined position to thereby determine whether or not a medium is accumulated on the accumulation table.

Abstract: An apparatus includes: a body including a port into which a medium is insertable; a light source that is provided in the body and illuminates when an image is read for the medium that has been inserted into the port; a guide and output unit that is optically connected to the light source, guides light emitted from the light source, and outputs the guided light into the port; a receiver that detects the output light; and a determiner that determines whether the medium has been inserted into the port based on a result of the detection. The light source also illuminates when the determiner makes the determination. A region in the port through which the light output from the light guide and output unit passes exists from one end to the other end of the port in a width direction being a longitudinal direction of the port.

Abstract: A position of a leading edge of an original sheet should be accurately detected utilizing a shadow thereof, irrespective of thickness of the original sheet. In a scanner, an image sensor recognizes the shadow of the leading edge of the original sheet projected on a projection screen when a light source emits light to the original sheet being automatically transported on a glass plate. The original sheet is determined to have reached a reading position, when the original sheet is further transported by a predetermined distance after the shadow is recognized. The projection screen is located above the glass plate at a position spaced apart from the image sensor by a predetermined distance, and hence the timing that the shadow of the leading edge of the original sheet is projected on the projection screen is constant irrespective of the thickness of the original sheet.

Abstract: A position detection apparatus comprises a sensor unit 80 and a moving holder 81 and a holder drive portion 82. The sensor unit has a plurality of pairs of sensors, each of which includes a light emitting portion held on the first holding surface 81a and a light receiving portion held on a second holding surface 81b as a pair and which are arranged along sheet width direction, and the sensor unit detects the edge position of the sheet S while the holder drive portion moves the moving holder in the sheet width direction and every other light emitting portions in the plurality of pairs of sensors is turned on.

Abstract: A multiple document feed detection system, such as for use in an automatic document processing system, is disclosed. The multiple document feed detection system includes a plurality of light sources oriented to direct light across a path of travel of documents. The system also includes a plurality of photodetectors placed adjacent to the path of travel, with each photodetector placed on an opposite side of the path of travel from a corresponding light source and oriented toward the corresponding light source. The plurality of photodetectors is configured to detect transmissivity of light emitted from the light sources through documents passing through the path of travel. The system further includes a signal detection and voting module interconnected with the light sources and the phototransistors, the signal detection and voting module configured to detect the presence of the overlapping documents passing through the path of travel.

Abstract: The invention includes also a sensor tat includes at least one laser, at least one detector, and at least one lens system that includes a sensor surface having three individual surfaces that are virtually the same, and an object surface having two individual surfaces that are virtually the same. The invention also includes a sensor having at least one source that produces radiation, at least one detector; and a lens system that collimates and focuses the radiation onto at least two different regions of a surface of a reflective object, wherein the reflective object reflects the incident radiation, and the lens system collimates and focuses the reflected radiation onto the detector, thereby sensing the reflective object.

Abstract: The invention describes an apparatus for preventing gripping of objects having wrong dimensions or orientation. The apparatus comprises a part handler, e.g., a holder for parts to be treated in a chemical reactor, where the parts has to be transferred from a working position to a temporary storage. The holder may have different shapes, e.g., rectangular, elliptical, or circular, and is provided with positioning openings or recesses for engagement with pins or semispherical elements on the engaging surface of the part handler. The apparatus is provided with at least two through beam optical sensor units with adjustable divergence of the light beams emitted from the light emitting to the light-receiving element. The sensor units are located near the edge area of the holder.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a document end detecting unit which detects a front-end of a moving document with reliability. In a document reading unit equipped with a document end detecting unit, on the surface of a back member which is on the opposite side to a light-receiving section and a light source when viewed from a reference position, a slot which is substantially parallel to a moving direction of a document is formed. A detecting section detects a shade of a document front-end appearing at the slot based on data of the reflected light amount from light-receiving elements in the light-receiving section which receive light reflected from the slot of the back member, and detects timing when the document front-end reaches the reference position based on a result of detecting the shade. This allows a document front-end to be detected with reliability.

Abstract: This invention discloses a multi-range fiber-optic reflective micrometer, which comprises a light source for emitting a beam to an object surface, a receiving fiber-optic array, a photo-detector array, and a processor. The processor output a measured value in accordance with a differential signal and a summation signal both derived from the two electric signals corresponding to two adjacent receiving optical fibers which output two sampled lights of stronger intensities as well as a scale voltage. Since the ratio of the differential and the summation signals is proportional to a section of a whole displacement of the object, the whole measuring range could be extended by increasing the number of the receiving optical fibers while its resolution is kept at a degree of deep-sub-micrometer.

Abstract: An optical measuring system capable of high resolution measurement of objects, and a method of measuring the same, are provided. The optical measuring system is formed in one integral, portable unit, and includes a laser source having associated optics for emitting a wide collimated light beam. A CCD receiver and a processor housed together and spaced apart from the laser source receive the wide collimated light beam. The CCD receiver has a plurality of diode cells, or “pixels,” formed in a linear array, and the diode cells exhibit output signals corresponding to the received light beam. The processor processes the output signals and determines a measurement associated with the output signals.

Abstract: A method for detecting untextured or defectively textured yarn segments in textured filament yarns during the texturing process, in which the textured yarn is continuously measured by the measurement, conditioning and evaluation of high-frequency measurement signals as evidence of untextured or defectively textured yarn segments.

Abstract: A cartridge for a data storage disk drive has a thin retroreflective marker. Light from a source is reflected from the marker almost exactly on its incident path. A planar light shaping optical structure such as a holographic light shaping diffuser (LSD) ruled or blazed diffraction grating, holographic diffraction grating, binary optics or holographic diffraction grating directs light to the detector. The LSD has degrees of angular diffusion in different orthogonal axes. This property makes possible unique identification of different types of cartridges.

Abstract: An optoelectric safety system which protects a free entrance or access opening in a machine's protective housing or protective cage at all times during operation. The system includes a reflection light scanner on the machine frame above and adjacent the floor at the front of the machine in the vicinity of the entrance or access opening, which emits a scanning beam covering a horizontal or inclined area and which generates an inner permanent protective field and an outer dynamic protective field.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for optically monitoring filling yarns inserted into a guide duct (10). Substantially collimated light rays are generated and directed transversely to the guide duct (10) onto photo-detectors (23), with the detection of interruption of the light rays by the fillings determining those positions which are assumed by the fillings when being inserted into the guide duct (10).