Did You Know...
...that in 1800 ether was first used by partyers as a fun diversion? Sniffing the gas led to hilarious and raucous laughter as people watched each other become more and more intoxicated and silly. Several doctors independently realized the value ether would have to anesthetize surgery patients. Of those who claimed rights to the "discovery," none had a happy ending. One had a seizure and died defending his rights. Another spent his life in an asylum because he had been denied acclaim. A third became addicted to chloroform and, in a New York City jail, he soaked a cloth in the drug, severed an artery and bled to death.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7498551 | Apparatus and method for tracking a molecule or particle in three dimensions An apparatus and method were used to track the movement of fluorescent particles in three dimensions. Control software was used with the apparatus to implement a tracking algorithm for tracking the motion of the individual particles in glycerol/water mixtures. Monte... | 03/03/2009 |
| 7427732 | Method for targeting a source of an incoming laser A system and method for laser source detection. An exemplary embodiment of the system includes a first array of lenses, a second array of opto devices (including light sources and light detectors), and at least one processor. By positioning the array of lenses to de... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7343099 | Free space optical (FSO) laser communication system employing fade mitigation measures based on laser beam speckle tracking and locking principles A free-space adaptive optical laser communication system having signal transmission and reception channels at all terminals in the communication system, wherein wavefront sensing and wavefront correction mechanisms are employed along signal transmission and receptio... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7343231 | Computerized simultaneous laser marking and targeting system The complete automation of a remote marking process. It is completely computer controlled and made possible by laser printer type marking/pointer equipment. The concept of embedding digital information into a laser beam or other coherent information vector and attac... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7304283 | Target tracking device for a flight vehicle A target tracking device (2) for a flight vehicle (10) is specified which has a position-sensitive photodiode (4) with at least two signal outputs (A1, A2, A3, A4) which are respectively connected to a... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7272306 | Bionic automatic vision and line of sight control system and method The present invention presents a bionic automatic vision and line of sight control system and method, wherein the system comprises multiple camera sets, wherein each camera set comprises one or more parallel camera with different shooting range, wherein each camera ... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7221436 | System and method for optimization-based sensor steering and tracking A method of tracking a target includes: (a) receiving energy from the target at a plurality of spatial orientations; (b) processing the received energy; (c) evaluating a penalty function at each of the plurality of spatial orientations; (d) selecting a new spatial o... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7206063 | Optical range finder with directed attention An optical range finder for determining the distance comprises a focusing optical member that focuses emitted electromagnetic radiation upon a micro-mirror array. A processor controls the micro-mirror array to direct the focused electromagnetic radiation into a defi... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7199711 | Mobile floor cleaner data communication In a method of communicating data from a mobile floor cleaner to a remote receiver a data communication is initiated from a communicator of the mobile floor cleaner to the remote receiver and data is communicated to the remote receiver with the communicator. ... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7190389 | Stereo camera A stereo camera includes a pair of photographing optical systems arranged in a common plane so that a common photographing coverage occurs between a pair of photographing areas taken by the pair of photographing optical systems, an object distance measuring device, ... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7110101 | Method and device for determining an angular error and use of the device A method and a device are disclosed for establishing actual changes and intended changes of the spatial angle of a main axis (e) of a sensor or effector attached to a receiver (4.1). The receiver (4.1) is directly rotatable around the first axis of rot... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7110035 | Device and a method for an infrared image analyzing autofocus An apparatus and a method is introduced by which infrared image analysing automatic focusing is made possible. The invention among others comprises a focus function to be used by a search operation in order to control a moving means (50) adjusting a focusing ... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7106431 | Sensor for determining the angular position of a radiating point source in two dimensions Embodiments of a device and a technique are disclosed for locating the angular position of a radiating point source with respect to a detector comprising a point source of radiation, a variable transmissivity mask with pseudo-random variations, a multi-element detec... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7096983 | Biped robot The height from floor surface contact ends of leg linkages 2 to shoulder joints of a biped robot 1 when the biped robot is in an upright posture is defined to be a value falling within a range (Havg±½σ) set based on an averaged value Havg obtained b... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7078672 | Method and system for optically tracking a target using interferometric technique An optical position-tracking system comprises an optical device for generating an incident light beam and a reference light beam from a light beam. Moreover, the optical position-tracking system further comprises a light beam steering device for sweeping the inciden... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7064810 | Optical range finder with directed attention An optical range finder for determining the distance comprises a focusing optical member that focuses emitted electromagnetic radiation upon a micro-mirror array. A processor controls the micro-mirror array to direct the focused electromagnetic radiation into a defi... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7051399 | Cleaner cartridge A cleaner cartridge includes a container having an interior cavity, in which cleaning agent can be stored. A first end of conduit is fluidically coupled to the interior cavity. A second end of the conduit is connectable to a chemical dispenser. ... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7038793 | Sensor device for performing rapid optical measurement of distances according to the confocal optical imaging principle A sensor device is for performing rapid optical measurement of distances according to the confocal optical imaging principle in order to determine distance values and/or height values of a surface. The sensor device includes a point-shaped light-emitting element tha... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7022971 | Laser measurement apparatus In a laser measurement apparatus capable of measuring a moving object or a designated object to be measured by tracking an object to be tracked and detecting the position of the tracked object as needed, optical signal processing units 103 through 105 ... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7003386 | Device and method for determining the position of a working part The invention relates to a device and to a method for determining the position for a working part of a tool on a working machine with a position-determining apparatus (2, 4, 5, 6; 2, 4a, 4b, 5, 6′; 31, 33, 49, 50, 51, 1′,53). At least one de... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6957493 | Automatic tracking apparatus for reflector The present invention comprises an illumination portion (11), which is disposed in a surveying machine body (8), for illuminating measurement light toward a reflector (2), a light receiving portion (12), which is disposed in the surveying... | 10/25/2005 |
| 6958813 | Plume detector Provided is a photodetector that detects missile launches from an above-flying surveillance platform through clouds. The plume detector includes a passive electro-optical sensor which detects the narrow spectral emissions in a rocket engine plume during launch there... | 10/25/2005 |
| 6888152 | IR source, method and apparatus The invention is an apparatus for producing an IR (infra-red) signature. In the method, the apparatus is mounted on a target to give the target an infra-red signature whereby the target can be acquired by an appropriate weapon sensor. ... | 05/03/2005 |
| 6872960 | Robust infrared countermeasure system and method A system and method for focusing electromagnetic energy on a moving target. Generally, the inventive system sends a pilot beam to a target and analyzes a return wavefront to ascertain data with respect to any distortions and other phase and/or amplitude information ... | 03/29/2005 |
| 6700108 | Means for protecting optical focal plane sensor arrays against excessive irradiation An imaging or viewing system, which automatically compensates for bright spots, which tend to overload or saturate imaging system. The system can be used with imaging type tracking systems, viewers and various types of optical devices which heretofore hav... | 03/02/2004 |
| 6587191 | In-action boresight A method for boresighting of a designation system, including a tracker responsive to a detector with reference to an indicator, including the step of directing a beam of light at a target, using a light source, so that the beam of light is reflected from ... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6445446 | Surveying instrument A photodetecting system for an automatic surveying instrument equipped with an automatic tracking system is capable of controlling the automatic surveying instrument by simple photodetecting means. A collimating optical system collimates the surveying ins... | 09/03/2002 |
| 6437859 | Device for detecting optical position A device for detecting optical position, comprising a photodetection unit 40 having a photodetection optical axis 37 and for outputting a photodetection signal corresponding to a light receiving position of a projected light beam, and a modulation grid 42... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6396949 | Machine vision methods for image segmentation using multiple images Machine vision methods for segmenting an image include the steps of generating a first image of the background of an object, generating a second image of the object and background, and subtracting the second image from the first image. The methods are cha... | 05/28/2002 |
| 6396577 | Lidar-based air defense system A lidar-based air defense system for providing a single unified system that may detect, track and even destroy airborne objects, even objects designed to move relatively undetected through conventional radar systems. The lidar-based air defense system inc... | 05/28/2002 |
| 6373041 | Image tracker having means for eliminating systematic error in centroid determination of reconstructed images A system and method which substantially eliminates systematic error in a centroid determination of reconstructed waveforms from images generated by an image sensor. In accordance with the invention, a predetermined wavefront error is added to an input wav... | 04/16/2002 |
| 6265704 | Tracking means for distant ballistic missile targets A laser tracking system steers a beam of laser energy which is dithered in two directions to scan the surface of a moving object. A laser energy detector detects laser energy reflected from the target. Reflected energy is filtered to distinguish dither fr... | 07/24/2001 |
| 6262800 | Dual mode semi-active laser/laser radar seeker The invention provides a method and apparatus for guiding a weapon to a target using an optical seeker having dual semi-active laser (SAL) and laser radar (LADAR) modes of operation. The dual mode seeker incorporates a laser light source, an optical packa... | 07/17/2001 |
| 6259827 | Machine vision methods for enhancing the contrast between an object and its background using multiple on-axis images Machine vision methods for segmenting an image include the steps of generating a first image of the background of an object, generating a second image of the object and background, and subtracting the second image from the first image. The methods are cha... | 07/10/2001 |
| 6222678 | Automatic survey instrument The present invention provides an automatic survey instrument, which comprises an objective lens, a focusing lens, and optical means positioned between the objective lens and the focusing lens, all of the components being arranged on an optical axis, wher... | 04/24/2001 |
| 6201231 | Testing system for measuring and optimising target tracking systems Described is a testing system which has a target point light source (12), a tracking light source (18) and therebetween a projection wall (24). Associated with the target point light source (12) is a two-axis deflection device (28) which is connected toge... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6153871 | Laser along body tracker (SABOT) A non-imaging laser-based tracking system (38) for tracking the position of a targeted moving object (20). The tracking system (38) includes two lasers: a reference laser (26) and a slave laser (30). Each laser is a weapon, and when locked on a target, si... | 11/28/2000 |
| 6111241 | Semi-active laser last pulse logic seeker utilizing a focal plane array The semi-active laser (SAL) last pulse logic seeker utilizing a focal plane array is obtained by combining the semi-active laser last pulse logic sal processing using a single PIN photodiode with a staring imaging infrared (I2 R) focal plane ... | 08/29/2000 |
| 6097481 | Bang-bang laser spot tracker A "bang-bang", i.e. digital tracking system for a remote laser designated target having position, rate and acceleration errors. The system is responsive to the sign of the error signal (up/down, right/left) in relation to boresight as opposed to the ampli... | 08/01/2000 |
| 6066842 | Laser along-body tracker (SABOT III) A laser-based tracking system for tracking the position of a targeted moving object. The tracking system includes two lasers: a reference laser and a slave laser. Each laser is a weapon, and when locked on a target, single laser effectiveness may be doubl... | 05/23/2000 |
