1295results about "Record carriers" patented technology

Methods for manufacturing ultrasonic waveguides having improved velocity gain are disclosed. Additionally, methods for manufacturing ultrasonic medical devices including the ultrasonic waveguides are disclosed. Specifically, the ultrasonic waveguides comprises a first material having a higher acoustic impedance and a second material having a lower acoustic impedance.

An apparatus has a communications device associated therewith. In another aspect of the present invention, a pallet is made from thermoformed polymeric sheets with an attached communications device. A further aspect of the present invention provides a radio frequency identification device attached to an apparatus. In still another aspect of the present invention, a communications device is incorporated into one or more sheets of a pallet or other container prior to forming. Methods of making and using a thermoformed pallet and container, having a communications device, are also provided.

A hearing-aid device and a method for transmitting sound through bone conduction are disclosed. The hearing-aid device comprises a piezoelectric-type actuator, housing and connector. The piezoelectric actuator is preferably a circular flextensional-type actuator mounted along its peripheral edge in a specifically designed circular structure of the housing. During operation, the bone-conduction transducer is placed against the mastoid area behind the ear of the patient. When the device is energized with an alternating electrical voltage, it flexes back and forth like a circular membrane sustained along its periphery and thus, vibrates as a consequence of the inverse piezoelectric effect. Due to the specific and unique designs proposed, these vibrations are directly transferred trough the human skin to the bone structure (the skull) and provide a means for the sound to be transmitted for patients with hearing malfunctions. The housing acts as a holder for the actuators, as a pre-stress application platform, and as a mass which tailors the frequency spectrum of the device. The apparatus exhibits a performance with a very flat response in the frequency spectrum 200 Hz to 10 kHz, which is a greater spectrum range than any other prior art devices disclosed for bone-conduction transduction which are typically limited to less than 4 kHz.

The inventions involve material handling apparatus developed to operate in radio frequency rich environments. Articles are provided having at least one large compartment capable of enclosing at least one electronic device or a package populated with a plurality of devices. RFID tags are also provided having three antenna arrays situated on three planes to improve electromagnetic and electrostatic coupling with an external distributed network of devices. Pallets are provided with cellular communications devices to provide track and trace functionality. Sensors and actuators are used in connection with the material handling apparatus.

The present invention relates to making optical articles such as opthalmic lenses by molding and, in particular, to using a continuous extrusion-compression molding method to make plastic lenses whereby a polymer melt is fed from an extruder or melting apparatus to a first die of a plurality of rotating or conveyed sequentially processed compression die sets comprising a first die and a second die. The die sets are positioned on die supports on a rotating turntable or conveying system, the lenses formed by compressing the die sets with pressing means associated with each die support, the lenses separated from the dies and the dies recycled to die loading and the melt feed step of the process and the process repeated until the desired number of lenses or other optical articles such as compact disk substrates are produced.

A directionally-sensitive device for detecting and processing vibration waves includes an array of polymeric optical waveguide resonators positioned between a light source, such as an LED array, and a light detector, such as a photodiode array. The resonators which are preferably oriented substantially perpendicularly with respect to incoming vibration waves, vibrate when a wave is detected, thus modulating light signals that are transmitted between the light source and the light detector. The light detector converts the modulated light into electrical signals which, in a preferred embodiment, are used to drive either the speaker of a hearing aid or the electrode array of a cochlear implant. The device is manufactured using a combination of traditional semiconductor processes and polymer microfabrication techniques.

An apparatus and method for aligning a disk with an imprinting surface are described. In one embodiment, the apparatus has a die which includes an air-bearing mandrel having a tapered nose to engage an ID of the disk, a circular imprinting surface having a centerline concentric with the air-bearing mandrel, and an air-bearing cavity to position the disk. The axial movement of the top die towards the bottom die guides the ID of the disk into coincident alignment with the centerline of the top die.

Composite cards formed in accordance with the invention include a security layer comprising a hologram or diffraction grating formed at, or in, the center, or core layer, of the card. The hologram may be formed by embossing a designated area of the core layer with a diffraction pattern and depositing a thin layer of metal on the embossed layer. Additional layers may be selectively and symmetrically attached to the top and bottom surfaces of the core layer. A laser may be used to remove selected portions of the metal formed on the embossed layer, at selected stages of forming the card, to impart a selected pattern or information to the holographic region. The cards may be “lasered” when the cards being processed are attached to, and part of, a large sheet of material, whereby the “lasering” of all the cards on the sheet can be done at the same time and relatively inexpensively. Alternatively, each card may be individually “lasered” to produce desired alpha numeric information, bar codes information or a graphic image, after the sheets are die-cut into cards.

A method and system for molding thermoplastic sandwich material to form a deep-drawn article utilizing a unique clamping technique and mechanism are described. The method includes the steps of positioning a blank of thermoplastic sandwich material having a cellular core over a female die having an article-defining cavity defined by inner surfaces of the female die. Then, an inner portion of the blank is forced into the female die along a substantially vertical axis and against the inner surfaces of the female die to obtain deep-drawn material. During the step of forcing at least one outer portion of the blank immediately adjacent the female die is clamped to guide the at least one outer portion of the blank to travel into the article-defining cavity at an acute angle with respect to the vertical axis. Thickness of at least one side wall of the deep-drawn material is substantially the same as thickness of the blank of thermoplastic sandwich material. The deep-drawn material does not significantly stretch or tear during the step of forcing due to the clamping technique and mechanism.

Arrays of integrated analytical devices and their methods for production are provided. The arrays are useful in the analysis of highly multiplexed optical reactions in large numbers at high densities, including biochemical reactions, such as nucleic acid sequencing reactions. The integrated devices allow the highly sensitive discrimination of optical signals using features such as spectra, amplitude, and time resolution, or combinations thereof. The arrays and methods of the invention make use of silicon chip fabrication and manufacturing techniques developed for the electronics industry and highly suited for miniaturization and high throughput.

A magneto-active adhesive and method of adhesive bonding by magnetic field. The method includes steps of providing at least two adherends to be bonded, providing a magneto-active adhesive system between the at least two adherends, the magneto-active adhesive system comprising a plurality of magnetic particles and an adhesive; and applying a non-cyclically varying magnetic field or a cyclically varying magnetic field induced by an alternating current having a frequency of less than 100 hz to the magneto-active adhesive system to change the adhesion of the magneto-active adhesive system to at least one of the adherends. Various carriers for microelectronic devices including magneto-active adhesive contact surfaces are also described within the scope of the invention.

A method for forming a stamper used in the manufacture of CDs, DVDs, and other types of optical disks comprises forming a substrate by rolling. A layer of material is deposited (e.g. by plating) onto the substrate. Thereafter, a resist layer is formed on the layer of material and patterned. Because the substrate is formed by rolling, it is relatively inexpensive to form the substrate to a desired thickness. Because the layer of material is formed by deposition (e.g. plating), it is relatively inexpensive to ensure that the layer has a very smooth surface (i.e. without necessitating a great deal of polishing).

An earbud (10) for carrying sound from a source (16) to a person's ear canal, includes a soft foam body (20) and a sleeve (26) of stiffer material lying within the body. The body is molded around the sleeve and is chemically bonded to the sleeve without an adhesive between them. The earbud is molded around the sleeve by placing the sleeve on a mandrel pin (42) within a mold cavity (32), placing foamable material in the mold and closing the mold. The mold has shoulders with one mold shoulder (52) that abuts one end (46) of the sleeve and another mold shoulder (60) that lies within 0.1 millimeter of the other sleeve end (62), to prevent foaming material from leaking into the space (64) between the mandrel pin and the sleeve passage.

Embodiments of optical discs and methods for making the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, the optical disc comprises: at least two plastic substrates comprising a bonding layer and a data layer disposed therebetween, wherein at least one of the substrates is a read side substrate comprising greater than or equal to about 0.05 wt % colorant, based upon the total weight of the read side substrate, and wherein the read side substrate has a UV Bonding Index of greater than or equal to about 0.5. One method for making the optical disc comprises: forming a first plastic substrate comprising greater than or equal to about 0.05 wt % colorant, based upon the total weight of the first plastic substrate, wherein a UV Bonding Index of the first plastic substrate is controlled to be greater than or equal to about 0.5, disposing a data layer between the first plastic substrate and a second substrate, bonding the first plastic substrate to the second plastic substrate with a bonding layer, and curing the bonding layer.

Systems and methods for assembling non-occluding earbuds are disclosed. The earbud includes a non-occluding housing having a directional sound port offset with respect to a center axis of the earbud. The housing can have an asymmetric shape amenable to in-the-ear retention. Additionally, the housing can have a seamless or nearly seamless construction even though two or more parts are joined together to form the housing.

The hearing device comprises an ear-piece (1) which is designed to be worn at least partially in an ear canal of a user of the hearing device. The ear-piece (1) comprises a vent passage (3) connecting the ear canal with the atmosphere. The vent passage (3) has an inner opening (8) towards the ear-canal and an outer opening (9) towards the atmosphere. The ear-piece (1) further comprises a vent extension (4). The vent extension (4) is a protrusion extending the vent passage (3) beyond the body (2) of the ear-piece (1). The vent extension (4) is adapted for abutting on a surface of the body of the user and is thereby inconspicuous and/or contributes thereby to retention. A method for manufacturing such a hearing device is also disclosed.

A high density electronic package includes a low-modulus-of-elasticity flexible adhesive interposer substrate to which an electronic device, such as a semiconductor chip or die or other component, is attached. The flexible adhesive interposer substrate includes a sheet or layer of a molecularly flexible adhesive having via holes therein in which are built up conductive vias to which contacts of the electronic device connect. A thin layer of metal foil on one surface of the flexible adhesive sheet is patterned to provide contacts and to connect electrically to the conductive vias. The electronic device may be covered by a lid or by an encapsulant attached to the flexible adhesive interposer substrate and/or the electronic device. An electronic package may include a plurality of electronic devices and respective flexible adhesive interposers that are electrically interconnected.