Bizarre Patents
Apparatus for Simulating a High Five
A self-righting hand-arm configuration which is adapted to pivot when struck by a user, thereby simulating a "high five."
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5542006 | Neural network based character position detector for use in optical character recognition Apparatus, and an accompanying method, for use in an optical character recognition (OCR) system (5) for locating, e.g., center positions ("hearts") of all desired characters within a field (310; 510) of characters such that the desired characters can be s... | 07/30/1996 |
| 5491759 | Document edge detection apparatus A document edge detection apparatus that can detect document edges at high speed with good stability and precision, even when the documents have relatively large damaged portions, creases or smears, or have been scanned with a large skew angle.... | 02/13/1996 |
| 5475416 | Printing system for printing an image with lasers emitting diverging laser beams A laser printing system includes plurality of N channel where each channels includes a laser diode forming a laser light beam which is shaped by a beam shaper to correct for divergence differences between the lasers of the N channels. The plurality of N o... | 12/12/1995 |
| 5468946 | Method and apparatus for decoding multi-level bar codes or bi-level bar codes This is a bar code decoding method and apparatus that decodes the bar codes from digital video data. The apparatus will decode multi-level bar codes, as well as bi-level bar codes, but only a single format bar code at any given time. Data acquisition is v... | 11/21/1995 |
| 5463449 | Reduction in metallization of a piezoelectric sensor for a xerographic development process to increase sensitivity of the sensor A piezoelectric toner mass sensor to be positioned adjacent to a toner applicator in an electrostatographic recording apparatus. The piezoelectric sensor has a circular central crystal having its front and rear surfaces metallized, the two metallized surf... | 10/31/1995 |
| 5450117 | Device for producing a slide A device for producing a slide by a three-color printing process wherein ink is transferred according to the thermal transfer printing method from a ribbon-type ink carrier onto a record carrier in the form of a transparent sheet, the ribbon-type ink carr... | 09/12/1995 |
| 5448266 | Method and apparatus for placing information on a medium while compensating for deviations in image length Endless web or drum type laser printers have enhanced copy registration. Image frame length control has particular utility in a printing or reproduction apparatus that writes one or more images on a photosensitive media that is driven by a low cost synchr... | 09/05/1995 |
| 5446477 | Holder for a thermal print medium A holder for a thermal print medium is disclosed. The holder is adapted to be used in a thermal printer in which a donor element in a thermal print medium transfers dye to a receiver element upon receipt of a sufficient amount of thermal energy. The print... | 08/29/1995 |
| 5442715 | Method and apparatus for cursive script recognition A method and apparatus for performing cursive script recognition is disclosed, wherein a cursive word, in the form of digitized data or bitmap, is simultaneously segmented and individual characters of the word are recognized using a scanning window that m... | 08/15/1995 |
| 5426486 | Toner monitor having magnetic field control A toner monitor which measures the magnetic permeability of the developer mix uses a coil around the toner monitor so that when energized with a DC current, the coil acts as an electromagnet to align the developer mix in a consistent fashion at the monito... | 06/20/1995 |
| 5424759 | Dye rollers for laser thermal dye transfer A process and apparatus in which a thermal dye is not carried by a donor element or sheet, but is provided in liquid form to a reservoir which supplies the dye to the surface of a donor roller. The dye is transferred to a transparent receiver sheet which ... | 06/13/1995 |
| 5424804 | Automatic exposure control using density slope control for a planetary microfilmer A method and apparatus for establishing optimum film exposure time for documents of different reflectances, A photo-sensor is used to produce a signal proportional to the intensity of light reflected from the document to be microfilmed, The signal is inte... | 06/13/1995 |
| 5423467 | Film registration gate assembly A film registration gate assembly has a gate with focal positioning location for focal positioning of an image frame of a strip film with edge perforations. Undersized first and second pins enter a pair of transversely aligned perforations of the film to ... | 06/13/1995 |
| 5420611 | Apparatus and method for eliminating feedback noise in laser thermal printing An apparatus and method are provided for forming a laser-induced thermal dye transfer image. A slide for brings a dye donor and dye receiver into dye transferring proximity, and a laser emits a beam of light toward the donor to image-wise transfer dye to ... | 05/30/1995 |
| 5408253 | Integrated galvanometer scanning device An integrated galvanometer scanning device controllably deflects a beam of light. The device has a planar silicon wafer substrate with front and rear surfaces, first and second longitudinal slots extending from the front surface to the rear surface, and t... | 04/18/1995 |
| 5406350 | Image recording apparatus A microfilm camera which is adapted to photographing images on a reduced scale of documents placed on a support table and to photograph a mark also on the film in the vicinity of each image thereon so that the location and/or size of the original image co... | 04/11/1995 |
| 5394482 | Method and apparatus for the detection of dot-matrix printed text so as to improve optical character recognition The present method and apparatus can be used to detect dot-matrix printed text in a binary digital image and create a filter mask indicating the locations of dot-matrix printed text in the digital image. The serial image data output of the scanning device... | 02/28/1995 |
| 5392447 | Image-based electronic pocket organizer with integral scanning unit An electronic organizer is provided that incorporates an internal electronic scanner and a touch sensitive display screen to enter text and image data. The internal electronic scanner permits both machine generated text and image data to be scanned and di... | 02/21/1995 |
| 5389959 | Thermal printing system There is disclosed a thermal printer system having a multiple channel laser print head which focuses closely spaced spots of laser light energy onto a dye donor element which moves at constant velocity relatively past the print head. These laser light spo... | 02/14/1995 |
| 5379128 | Document transport apparatus and method A document transport apparatus provides continuous transport of documents input with a prescribed spacing between the documents, and can rapidly detect when documents close up or overlap. Detection of close up or overlap is made by measuring a length of e... | 01/03/1995 |
| 5369426 | Method and apparatus for optimization of productivity through the synchronization of a scanner and printer using a pre-scan In an electronic color printing process in which an array of images from respective frames of a filmstrip or the like is provided on print receiver sheets or alternative storage or alternative storage media from information signals representing image info... | 11/29/1994 |
| 5359671 | Character-recognition systems and methods with means to measure endpoint features in character bit-maps Character recognition method and system that identifies an input character as being a unique member of a defined character set. Specifically, a character bit-map of an input character is first generated. Thereafter, a character recognition procedure proce... | 10/25/1994 |
| 5357581 | Method and apparatus for the selective filtering of dot-matrix printed characters so as to improve optical character recognition Method and apparatus for locating dot-matrix printed text in a digital image and filtering only those regions determined to contain dot-matrix printed text. The apparatus incorporates a detection algorithm with a digital filter. The system detects dot-mat... | 10/18/1994 |
| 5342817 | Noncontact donor and receiver holder for thermal printing An apparatus and method are provided for forming a laser induced thermal dye transfer. The apparatus includes a dye receiving element having a ridge formed along a periphery thereof for receiving a dye donor element thereon with the only physical contact ... | 08/30/1994 |
| 5337072 | Laser diode with card-edge connector A laser diode assembly comprising a laser diode mounted on a support member in an enclosure member having an electrical connector in the form of a card edge connector rigidly attached to the assembly and extending through a wall of the enclosure member. T... | 08/09/1994 |
| 5335239 | Thermal compensation for laser diodes using active feedback Providing thermal compensation for laser diodes used in intensity modulated applications by using active feedback. A PIN diode serves as a laser light output sensor for the closed loop feedback system. The input from the PIN diode is convened into a volta... | 08/02/1994 |
| 5333513 | Averaging half-nuts A relatively inexpensive means for preventing the transmission of thread drunkenness to a carriage or other element being driven by a lead screw comprising a drive nut formed of a pair of half-nuts arranged to engage the thread of the lead screw. An inter... | 08/02/1994 |
| 5332209 | Adjustable feed tray assembly An image recording apparatus wherein paper sheets are fed to a transport system along a predetermined feed path having a center line. The apparatus is provided with a pair of edge guides opposedly arranged about the center line for holding the paper sheet... | 07/26/1994 |
| 5333069 | Technique for use in conjunction with an imaging system for providing an appearance match between two images and for calibrating the system thereto Apparatus, and associated methods employed therein, for objectively providing an accurate appearance match between two depictions of a common images produced by two imaging systems (e.g. a target image (170) produced by one such system (160), e.g. a press... | 07/26/1994 |
| 5330388 | Shaft coupling utilizing tension springs and radially and axially projecting pins An input shaft is coupled to an output shaft through a constant velocity joint in which tangentially oriented constraints, spaced 120° apart and resiliently connected, effect the coupling. The input and output shafts have radially projecting pins thereon... | 07/19/1994 |
| 5331468 | Intensity redistribution for exposure correction in an overfilled symmetrical laser printer A method for redistributing intensity of a Gaussian beam of light having a Gaussian shaped intensity profile comprises the steps of exposing a photosensitive material to a scanning beam of a laser printing apparatus, writing a desired pattern onto the pho... | 07/19/1994 |
| 5329297 | Proof printer capable of printing with various swath widths A thermal printer is capable of printing proofs of images on a receiver with any of a plurality of selected half-tone dot patterns. The proof image is generated with a series of incremental dots. A plurality of the incremental dots are generated substanti... | 07/12/1994 |
| 5325155 | Controlling the speed of an image-bearing member using relative states A method and apparatus for controlling the relative states between a rotating load member driven by a motor via a transmission where the velocity and position of the rotating load member are determined and the velocity and position of the motor are determ... | 06/28/1994 |
| 5311255 | Real-time diagnostic system for detecting non-linear movement of an imaging member using optical fibers A diagnostic method and apparatus for use in an electronic printer or reproduction machine having a movable imaging member capable of receiving an image from a modulated light source. A plurality of light sources are mounted adjacent the imaging member. E... | 05/10/1994 |
| 5285243 | Method and apparatus for determining toner development rate A method and apparatus for determining the rate of development characteristic of electroscopic toner particles of the type used in electrostatographic recording to develop electrostatic images. The apparatus has a biased electrode for attracting toner par... | 02/08/1994 |
| 5281982 | Pixelized toning Electrostatographic toning with charged toner particles which are transported along a conveyor having an array of repeating sets of electrodes upon which an electrostatic traveling wave pattern is established. The traveling wave pattern causes already cha... | 01/25/1994 |
| 5280321 | Dual roll rotary microfilmer for 25x reduction or less A 16 mm rotary microfilmer that operates in 25× duplex mode that simultaneously photographs both sides of a document. Each side of the document is imaged onto a separate roll of film resulting in greater resolution and easier readability. The microfilmer... | 01/18/1994 |
| 5267326 | Bitmap image segmentation using a charge model for pixels A method and apparatus for segmenting a bitmapped image (200). In general, the bitmap image is modeled as a parallel plate capacitor. In so doing, opposing boundaries (302, 304) of the bitmap image are each assigned a voltage value and each pixel (300, 30... | 11/30/1993 |
| 5250987 | Toner monitor to control development concentration and locate developer stations with respect to a stationary photo-conductor in an electrophotographic apparatus An applicator for a development unit is precisely positioned with respect to an image member, such as a photoconductive drum. The signal strength of the toner monitor is used to accurately locate each developer unit under a stationary photoconductor. The ... | 10/05/1993 |
| 5249069 | Method and apparatus for automatic alignment of front and rear scanning cameras A method and apparatus for automatic lateral alignment of front and rear images in a two sided scanning system. A line store is used for each camera to capture image data from a calibration target. A control processor then uses this image data to compute ... | 09/28/1993 |
