International Business Machines Corporation

Matthew J Kockott

John A Owen

Abdul Baki

Joanne E Woods

Colin Ian Holyoake

Richard Postlethwaite

Jonathan Christopher Mace

Steven J Horsman

Andrew Moger

Colin J Holyoake

Embodiments of the present invention provide a camera cleaning apparatus. According to one embodiment, a first disc coupled to a first rod, a camera mounted to a portion of the first disc; a second disc coupled to a second rod, wherein a first portion of the first rod is situated inside the second rod and the first rod rotates independently of the second rod; a first and a second directional sensor operatively coupled to the first disc; a first motor mechanically connected to a first rod; a protective cover mounted between the first and the second disc; and a cleaning mechanism mechanically coupled to the second disc and an attachment point disposed on a portion of the protective cover is provided. Embodiments of the present invention can be utilized to clean a protective cover that encapsulates the camera without obscuring the camera's field of view.

Planar gearing system

A key for operating a mechanical lock, which key includes a head portion for holding by a user, a lock-engaging portion for inserting into the lock for operating the lock by the application of a turning force, and a joining portion between the head portion and the lock-engaging portion and fixing the head portion to the lock-engaging portion. The joining portion includes a shape memory material, which reversibly deforms without breakage when a first turning force on the key is exceeded, where the first turning force is lower than a second turning force. The second turning force being a turning force which if exceeded causes breakage of the lock-engaging portion or the head portion. The shape memory material may exhibit a superelastic effect in which the shape is restored when the turning force ceases, or shape memory effect in which the shape is restored on heating above a state-transition temperature.

A method, computer program product, and system for a quality-of-service history database is described. A first input associated with a change to a component of a graphical user interface is received, wherein a portion of the component is represented as a first node of a tree structure representing a portion of the graphical user interface. A first characteristic of the change is determined. The first characteristic of the change is associated with a second node of the topic tree structure. The associated first characteristic is transmitted to a first computing device, wherein transmission of the associated first characteristic allows one or more of the first computing device and a second computing device to determine a first aspect of the change based upon, at least in part, the topic tree structure.

Representing a graphical user interface using a topic tree structure

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Hursley, United Kingdom

Matthew J Kockott