2665 results about "Sensing system" patented technology

Specific ambient and user behaviour sensing systems and methods are presented to improve friendliness and usability of electronic handheld devices, in particular cellular phones, PDAs, multimedia players and similar.

The improvements and special functions include following components:

• • a. The keypad is locked/unlocked (disabled/enabled) and/or the display activated based on the device inclination relative to its longitudinal and/or lateral axes.
  • b. The keypad is locked if objects are detected above the display (for example the boundary of a bag or pursue).
  • c. The keypad is locked/unlocked (disabled/enabled) and/or the display activated based on electric field displacement or bio-field sensing systems recognizing the user hand in any position behind the handheld device.
  • d. The electric response signal generated by an electric field through the user hand in contact with a receiver plate is used to identify the user and in negative case lock the device.
  • e. Connection with incoming calls is automatically opened as soon as a hand is detected behind the device and the device is put close to the ear (proximity sensor).
  • f. The profile (ring-tone mode, volume and silent mode) can be changed just putting the device in a specific verse (upside up or upside down).
  • g. Has a lateral curved touchpad with tactile markings over more surfaces to control a mouse pointer/cursor or selection with the thumb finger.

A transparent, capacitive sensing system particularly well suited for input to electronic devices is described. The sensing system can be used to emulate physical buttons or slider switches that are either displayed on an active display device or printed on an underlying surface. The capacitive sensor can further be used as an input device for a graphical user interface, especially if overlaid on top of an active display device like an LCD screen to sense finger position (X/Y position) and contact area (Z) over the display. In addition, the sensor can be made with flexible material for touch sensing on a three-dimensional surface. Because the sensor is substantially transparent, the underlying surface can be viewed through the sensor. This allows the underlying area to be used for alternative applications that may not necessarily be related to the sensing system. Examples include advertising, an additional user interface display, or apparatus such as a camera or a biometric security device.

Athletic performance monitoring systems include components for sensing performance data and/or displaying desired information to users. Electronic interface systems facilitate transfer of the data from the performance sensing system to a display device, e.g., to enable the display of athletic performance data on an electronic display device, including conventional electronic display devices that are known and commercially available (e.g., cellular telephones, PDAs, pagers, beepers, MP3 or other audio players, radios, portable televisions, portable DVD players, other video playing devices, watches, etc.). The sensing systems, as well as any data transfer systems associated therewith, may be included as part of an article of footwear, an article of clothing, a piece of athletic equipment, or the like, or even included as part of the interface device.

Support structures for positioning sensors on a physiologic tunnel for measuring physical, chemical and biological parameters of the body and to produce an action according to the measured value of the parameters. The support structure includes a sensor fitted on the support structures using a special geometry for acquiring continuous and undisturbed data on the physiology of the body. Signals are transmitted to a remote station by wireless transmission such as by electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared, sound and the like or by being reported locally by audio or visual transmission. The physical and chemical parameters include brain function, metabolic function, hydrodynamic function, hydration status, levels of chemical compounds in the blood, and the like. The support structure includes patches, clips, eyeglasses, head mounted gear and the like, containing passive or active sensors positioned at the end of the tunnel with sensing systems positioned on and accessing a physiologic tunnel.

Systems and methods are disclosed for assessing electrode-tissue contact for tissue ablation. An exemplary electrode contact sensing system comprises an electrode housed within a distal portion of a catheter shaft. At least one electro-mechanical sensor is operatively associated with the electrode within the catheter shaft. The at least one electro-mechanical sensor is responsive to movement of the electrode by generating electrical signals corresponding to the amount of movement. The system may also include an output device electrically connected to the at least one electro-mechanical sensor. The output device receives the electrical signals for assessing a level of contact between the electrode and a tissue.

This invention is directed to a lattice touch-sensing system for detecting a position of a touch on a touch-sensitive surface. The lattice touch-sensing system may include two capacitive sensing layers, separated by an insulating material, where each layer consists of substantially parallel conducting elements, and the conducting elements of the two sensing layers are substantially orthogonal to each other. Each element may comprise a series of diamond shaped patches that are connected together with narrow conductive rectangular strips. Each conducting element of a given sensing layer is electrically connected at one or both ends to a lead line of a corresponding set of lead lines. A control circuit may also be included to provide an excitation signal to both sets of conducting elements through the corresponding sets of lead lines, to receive sensing signals generated by sensor elements when a touch on the surface occurs, and to determine a position of the touch based on the position of the affected bars in each layer.

An image sensing system for a vehicle includes an imaging sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensing photosensor elements. The system includes a logic and control circuit comprising an image processor for processing image data derived from the imaging sensor. The logic and control circuit generates at least one control output for controlling at least one accessory of the vehicle. The imaging sensor is disposed at an interior portion of the cabin of the vehicle and preferably has a field of view exterior of the vehicle through a window of the vehicle.

A photochemical sensing system enables the measurement of nitrogen oxides (nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide) by photolyzing nitrogen dioxide to form oxygen atoms which combine with oxygen molecules to form ozone. Ozone reacts with nitric oxide to for nitrogen dioxide-decreasing ozone. Changes in ozone concentration are measured as a surrogate for the nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide. Any species which photolyzes to yield oxygen atoms may be measured by this technique. Additional specificity for nitrogen oxides is conferred by allowing the nitric oxide to react with the ozone to recreate the nitrogen dioxide. By periodically photolyzing the nitrogen dioxide (to form ozone), and then allowing the resulting nitric oxide to react with the ozone (thereby reducing ozone), a pulsed signal is obtained whose amplitude is proportional to the total amount of nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide present. Medical applications include measuring nitric oxide concentrations in expired air samples.

The present invention provides a situation awareness system of a driver of a vehicle in a multi-vehicle environment, said system comprising: a. a remote central server communicatively connected to a vehicle, comprising: i. a server computer comprising a CPU, a memory, and an operating system; ii. a wireless server transceiver; iii. databases within said server computer; iv. server applications within said server computer; b. a vehicle subsystem installed in a vehicle with a driver, comprising: i. an vehicle computer having a CPU, a memory, and an operating system; ii. sensors; iii. vehicle databases; iv. a vehicle transducer to interrogate external environmental responders about the state of the environment; v. a wireless vehicle transceiver; vi. vehicle applications within said vehicle computer; vii. a situation assessment application,

At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a method of situation awareness facilitation for a vehicle driver comprising: receiving a first acoustic signal from outside a vehicle that the driver is in and converting the first acoustic signal into a first acoustic electronic signal; sending the first acoustic electronic signal to a processor; matching the first acoustic electronic signal by the processor to stored reference electronic signals; and sending an acoustic message associated with a matched reference electronic signal to a speaker in the cab of the vehicle.

A shape sensing system to determine the position and orientation of one link with respect to another link in a kinematic chain. An optical fiber is coupled to two or more links in a kinematic chain. A shape sensing segment is defined to start at a proximal link and to end at a distal link, crossing one or more joints. A reference frame is defined at the start of the shape sensing segment. As the joints move, an interrogator senses strain in the shape sensing segment. The sensed strain is used to output a Cartesian position and orientation of the end of the shape sensing segment with respect to the reference frame defined at the start of the shape sensing segment. The pose of the kinematic chain is determined from the Cartesian positions and orientations of one or more shape sensing segments defined for the kinematic chain and from an a priori model and constraints of the kinematic chain.

A three-dimensional mapping system comprising a moderate number (typically 2 to 4) of moderate-beam-count (typically 8-beam to 16-beam) lidar sensors is proposed to achieve low cost systems with wide fields of view. Secondary advantages include compact sensors and a small minimum range (possible by optimal placement of each of a plurality of sensors).

Method and system for notifying a remote facility of a vehicular accident includes obtaining information about the accident using a crash sensor system on the vehicle, obtaining information about position of the vehicle using a position determining system, obtaining information about occupancy of the vehicle by animate occupants using an occupant sensing system on the vehicle, generating at least one data packet derived from information obtained by the crash sensor system and information obtained by the occupant sensing system and directing the data packet(s), using a communications system on the vehicle, from the vehicle directly to the remote facility without involving an intermediary. The information about position of the vehicle obtained by the position determining system is provided to the remote facility to be associated with the data packet(s).

A medical instrument system includes an elongate flexible instrument body with an optical fiber substantially encapsulated in a wall of the instrument body, the optical fiber including one or more fiber gratings. A detector is operatively coupled to the optical fiber and configured to detect respective light signals reflected by the one or more fiber gratings. A controller is operatively coupled to the detector, and configured to determine a twist of at least a portion of the instrument body based on detected reflected light signals. The instrument may be a guide catheter and may be robotically or manually controlled.

A sensing system for determining the rank and suit of playing cards is disclosed. The system includes a sensing module capable of reading a line of data from a printed image, a position sensor and a hardware component that combines the signals from the sensing module and position sensor, converts the signal to binary values and compares the converted signal to stored signals. The comparisons are correlated to identify card rank and Suit. The system can be used in a playing card delivery shoe used to control the game of baccarat. The shoe may be a customary dealing shoe equipped with a sensing module, or may be a mechanized shoe. The mechanized shoe may comprise a) an area for receiving a first set of playing cards useful in the play of the casino table card game of baccarat; b) first card mover that moves playing cards from the first set to a playing card staging area wherein at least one playing card is staged in an order by which playing cards are removed from the first set of and moved to the playing card staging area; c) second playing card mover that moves playing cards from the playing card staging area to a delivery area wherein playing cards removed from the staging area to the delivery shoe are moved in the same order by which playing cards were removed from the first set of playing cards and moved to the playing card staging area; and d) playing card reading sensors that read at least one playing card value of each playing card separately after each playing card has been removed from the area for receiving the first set of playing cards and before removal from the playing card delivery area One exemplary sensing system is a CIS line scanning system with an associated card position sensor and a FPGA hardware element.

There is described a method for determining a mechanical axis of a femur using a computer aided surgery system having an output device for displaying said mechanical axis, the method comprising: providing a position sensing system having a tracking device capable of registering instantaneous position readings and attaching the tracking device to the femur; locating a center of a femoral head of the femur by moving a proximal end of the femur to a first static position, acquiring a fixed reading of the first static position, repeating the moving and the acquiring for a plurality of static positions; and locating the centre by determining a central point of a pattern formed by the plurality of static positions; digitizing an entrance point of the mechanical axis at a substantially central position of the proximal end of the femur; and joining a line between the entrance point and the center of rotation to form the mechanical axis.

A medical instrument system comprises an elongate instrument body; an optical fiber coupled in a constrained manner to the elongate instrument body, the optical fiber including one or more Bragg gratings; a detector operably coupled to a proximal end of the optical fiber and configured to detect respective light signals reflected by the one or more Bragg gratings; and a controller operatively coupled to the detector, wherein the controller is configured to determine a geometric configuration of at least a portion of the elongate instrument body based on a spectral analysis of the detected reflected portions of the light signals.

The present invention relates to a patient monitoring system for automatically monitoring patient parameters over time while the patient occupies a bed. The patient monitoring system may include a sensing system positioned underneath a patient and separated from the patient by at least one layer of material, the sensing system comprising a plurality of sensor cells, the sensor cells automatically collecting sensor data related to the patient parameters. The patient monitoring system may further include an interface for receiving the collected sensor data from the sensing system and a monitoring engine receiving the collected sensor data from the interface. Calculation components may be provided for determining the patient parameters from the collected sensor data.

An image sensing apparatus including: an image sensor including a plurality of focus detection pixel pairs that perform photoelectric conversion on each pair of light beams that have passed through different regions of a photographing lens and output an image signal pair; a flash memory that stores shift information on relative shift between an optical axis of the photographing lens and a central axis of the focus detection pixel pairs; a correction unit that corrects a signal level of the image signal pair based on the shift information and exit pupil information of the photographing lens so as to compensate for an unbalanced amount of light that enters each of the focus detection pixel pairs; and a focus detection unit that detects a focus of the photographing lens using the image signal pair corrected by the correction unit.

A sensing system for determining the concentration of an analyte inside an animal body. The system includes an in vivo portion that is adapted to reside inside the animal body and that includes a sensing element that produces a sensing signal. In addition, a wearable ex vivo portion is physically attached to the in vivo portion. The ex vivo portion includes a first inductor that is adapted to receive a varying electro-magnetic signal and that has a pair of terminals. A variable load assembly presents a load across the pair of terminals and varies the load in response to the sensing signal. Also, an electronic monitoring unit is physically separate from the ex vivo portion and includes a second inductor, which is magnetically coupled to the first inductor and is adapted to transmit a varying electro-magnetic signal and to detect changes in load across the terminals of the first inductor.

A method and system for three dimensional scanning, imaging and/or therapy are provided. In accordance with one aspect, an exemplary method and system are configured to facilitate controlled scanning within one-degree of freedom. For example, an exemplary method and system can enable multiple two-dimensional image planes to be collected in a manner to provide an accurate and computationally efficient three-dimensional image reconstruction while providing the user with a user-friendly mechanism for acquiring three-dimensional images. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, an exemplary scanning and imaging system comprises an imaging probe, a control system, a positioning system and a display system. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the positioning system comprises a guide assembly and a position sensing system. The guide assembly is configured to provide pure rectilinear or rotational motion of the probe during scanning operation while the position sensing system is configured to detect the direction and position of the probe during scanning.

A physiological parameter measurement and motion tracking system including a control system, a sensing system, and a stimulation system is disclosed. The sensing system includes one or more physiological sensors including at least brain electrical activity sensors. The stimulation system includes one or more stimulation devices including at least a visual stimulation system. The control system includes an acquisition module configured to receive sensor signals from the sensing system, and a control module configured to process the signals from the acquisition module and control the generation of stimulation signals to one or more devices of the stimulation system. The control system further includes a clock module and the control system is configured to receive content code signals from the stimulation system and to time stamp the content code signals and the sensor signals with a clock signal from the clock module.

A fingerprint sensing system includes an image sensor, a rate sensor and a sensor circuit. The image sensor includes a linear array of capacitive sensors for capacitive sensing of ridge peaks and ridge valleys of a fingerprint on a swiped finger. The rate sensor senses the speed of the finger as it is swiped across the image sensor. The sensor circuit supplies image drive signals to the image sensor and detects image signals in response to the drive signals. The sensor circuit supplies rate drive signals to the rate sensor and detects rate signals in response to the rate drive signals. The sensor circuit further coordinates the image signals and the rate signals to provide a fingerprint image. The image sensor may be configured as an image pickup plate and multiple image drive plates formed on a substrate, such as a flexible printed circuit board or other flexible substrate which may conform to the shape of the finger.

An obstacle-sensing system for carriers, particularly autonomous carriers such as robot vacuum cleaners, enables the carriers to disengage themselves from any obstacle or obstruction with which they come into physical contact and proceed past the obstacle or obstruction. The obstacle-sensing system is established by constructing a carrier to have front and rear sections which, normally, are in a neutral relationship with respect to one another but which move relative to one another when the front section physically engages an obstacle or obstruction. The relative movement activates a guidance and control system that maneuvers the carrier around the obstacle or obstruction.

An in-vivo sensing system and a method for creating a summarized graphical presentation of a data stream captured in-vivo. The graphical presentation may be in the form of a series of summarized data points, for example a color bar. The color bar may be a fixed display along side a streaming display of the data stream. A cursor, icon or other indicator may move along the fixed color bar as the data stream is displayed and/or streamed so as to indicate to a health professional what part of the data stream may be currently displayed. The color content in the color bat may map out the data stream and give indication of the location of anatomical sites as well as possible locations of pathology.

A mobile communications device comprising a location sensing system, producing a location output; a memory, storing a set of locations and associated events; a telecommunications device, communicating event and location information between a remote system and said memory; and a processor, processing said location output in conjunction with said stored locations and associated events in said memory, to determine a priority thereof.

A threat sensing system is provided including, in some aspects, a plurality of threat sensing devices distributed throughout a school or facility, with each of the threat sensing devices comprising one or more acoustic sensors, one or more gas sensors, and a communication circuit or communication device configured to output sensor data to a system gateway. The system gateway is configured to receive and process the sensor data output from the threat sensing devices and determine whether the processed sensor data corresponds to one of a predetermined plurality of known threats (e.g., a gunshot) and, if so, to communicate the existence of the threat, the processed sensor information, and/or predetermined messaging information to one or more recipient devices (e.g., first responders, dispatchers).

A card handling device includes a sensing system for identifying cards handled thereby. A control system may be configured to selectively control an infeed system, a storage system, and/or an output system of the device in response to a signal received from the sensing system, and to enable a user to selectively perform one or more of a shuffling operation, a sorting operation, and a dealing operation using the device. A card handling device may be configured to dispense randomly arranged hands, prearranged hands, randomly arranged decks, or prearranged decks.

A sensing system (11) includes a first radar sensing assembly (10; 3104, 3106; 4100, 4200) and an analysis system (18). The first radar sensing assembly (10; 3104, 3106; 4100, 4200) measures plural distances (12; 22, 30; 42, 50, 60, 70, 80; 4102, 4202) to a first target location (16) at different times using radar. The analysis system (18) receives the plural distances (12; 22, 30; 42, 50, 60, 70, 80; 4102, 4202) from the first radar sensing assembly (10; 3104, 3106; 4100, 4200) and quantifies movements of a target object (14) at the first target location (16) at the different times by calculating differences in the plural distances (10; 3104, 3106; 4100, 4200) measured by the first radar sensing assembly (10; 3104, 3106; 4100, 4200). The analysis system (18) generates one or more first quantified activity level values indicative of the movements of the target object (14) at the first target location (16) using the differences in the plural distances (12; 22, 30; 42, 50, 60, 70, 80; 4102, 4202) that are calculated.

The visual condition of a patient is monitored by defining a an authorized patient zone, placing a video camera in a location to capture a visual image of the patient zone, defining a base visual image of the patient zone, monitoring the visual image at a remote location, identifying any change in the captured image from the base visual image, and generating an alert in the event a change is detected. Certain changes in the zone may occur without generating an alert. Authorized personnel may enter and leave the zone without generating an alert. In a typical application the system for practicing the method is networked based for providing medical appliance data directly to key personnel at a standard computer station. The system also includes video monitoring in real-time or near real-time, providing visual as well as technical monitoring of the patient wherever he is located. In one aspect of the invention, the system is IP based, permitting access to the information anywhere on the World Wide Web.