Other

Bell Communications Research, Inc.

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Digital Equipment Corporation

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Rgb Spectrum

Roxburgh Ltd.

Robert B Marcus

Tirunelveli S Ravi

Nicholas C Andreadakis

William Ned Carr

Hyman J Levinstein

William S Trimmer

Brian G Bagley

Shyam P Murarka

Yanwei Zhang

Richard S Wagner

Wallace T Miller

Tirunelveli Subramanian Sriram

Tracy Francis

Yongxia Zhang

Warren B Gefter

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or manned/unmanned personal flying device (PFD) may be used to deliver a deployable descent system to an elevated location at which people await rescue, such as people trapped in an upper story of a burning building. The UAV or PFD may be used to deliver the descent system, attach the descent system to the building, and deploy the descent system. After deployment, the descent system may be tensioned to prevent sway and facilitate descent. Standoffs may be installed or integrated into the descent system to provide for adequate handholds for descending individuals. Various equipment and methods used in such systems are described herein.

UAV&#x2014;or personal flying device-delivered deployable descent device

UAV- or personal flying device-delivered deployable descent device

UAV&#x2014;or personal flying device&#x2014;delivered deployable descent device

Methods and apparatus are provided for externally managing control target devices such as computer systems, cameras, recorders, etc., in an effective and secure manner. In particular examples, an external desktop agent is connected to a computer system. Remote desktop agent software need not be installed on the computer system. The external desktop agent receives commands such as keyboard and mouse commands from a control computer over a mechanism such as a bi-directional network. To provide security, the external desktop agent does not directly connect to the computer system over an interface such as universal serial bus (USB) but instead provides a PS/2 interface that connects to the computer system through a standard PS/2 to USB adapter. PS/2 does not allow bi-directional command signaling and does not provide file level access to potentially sensitive computer system data.

External desktop agent for secure networks

An aerial vehicle includes independently controlled horizontal thrusters and vertical lifters to provide design and operational simplicity while allowing precision flying with six degrees of freedom and use of mounted devices such as tools, sensors, and instruments. Each horizontal thruster and vertical lifter can be mounted as constant-pitch, fixed-axis rotors while still allowing for precise control of yaw, pitch, roll, horizontal movement, and vertical elevation. Gyroscopes and inclinometers can be used to further enhance flying precision. A controller manages thrust applied the horizontal thrusters and vertical lifters to compensate for forces and torques generated by the use of tools and other devices mounted to the aerial vehicle.

Rotocraft

A Combination Water Dose and Medication Container is disclosed. The device provides a single, pocket-sized, disposable unit that separately contains water and pills. The water chamber is foil-sealed to prevent tampering. The pill container is available pre-loaded with pills and foil-sealed, as well as empty so that the user can add his or her own pills. Five different versions of the combination container are enumerated in order to optimize flexibility to meet user tastes and manufacturing constraints.

Combination water dose and medication container

A micromachined element mounted to a substrate, the element including a cantilever having a proximal portion attached to the substrate and a coilable distal portion terminating in a free distal end. The coilable distal portion, upon being heated, is capable of bending away from the substrate and at least partially coiling upon itself to form a coiled portion. At least part of the micromachined element may be electrically conductive. In various embodiments, the micromachined element may function as a mechanical microspring, an electrically conductive link, and/or a magnetic coil. A method of fabricating the microelement may include the steps of selectively depositing various layers upon the substrate.

Micromachined element and method of fabrication thereof

A small bimetallic thermocouple probe device for use in scanning atomic force microscopy is mass produced by etching and oxidatively sharpening silicon points on a standard silicon wafer. The sharpened points are oxidized and the first thermocouple metal layer is deposited and patterned. The intermetal dielectric layer is deposited and removed in the area of the tip of the probe by a simple double spin photoresist process having a drying cycle between the two spins. The exposed tips have the dielectric etched, and the second thermocouple metal is deposited and patterned. The finished thermocouples are produced by etching the silicon from the back side of the wafer to free up the cantilevered structure which the probe are constructed upon. With such a procedure, large numbers of tiny, low thermal mass scanning atomic force microscope thermocouple probes may be inexpensively manufactured.

Scanning force microscope thermal microprobe

Knife blades having exceptionally sharp cutting edges are formed from wafers of monocrystalline silicon using known semiconductor processing technology. In one embodiment, an elongated ridge having a flat top covered by an etchant mask is etched to undercut the mask and to shape the ridge side walls to inwardly converge towards the ridge tip. The mask is removed and a sharp ridge apex is provided by a series of oxide forming and oxide stripping processes. Individual knife blades of silicon, each comprising a ridge having a sharp cutting edge, are shaped from the wafer. In another embodiment, the silicon wafer is etched entirely through between top and bottom surfaces to form a tapered etched wall intersecting the bottom wall at a highly acute edge. The edge is sharpened by the oxide forming and oxide stripping process to form a cutting edge in the completed blade. In both embodiments, various etch masks and etching procedures are used for providing blades of various shapes.

Knife blades having ultra-sharp cutting edges and methods of fabrication

A microprobe comprises a base, a microcantilever extending in a plane from the base, and a probe tip projecting from the microcantilever out of the plane. The microcantilever is a bimorph structure comprising first and second layers made from materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion, and an integrated heated element for supplying heat to the microcantilever. The probe tip is made from silicon and comes to a radius that can be controlled to atomic sharpness (&lt;1 nm) if desired. Alternatively, the probe tip is a planar structure. Desirably, the microcantilever is made from a metal, such as aluminum, and silicon oxide as the materials of the two layers. The heating element comprises a line or ribbon of a conductive material, such as polysilicon which is in contact with one of the two layers, and supplies heat, thereby causing the probe tip to traverse an arc and bring it into contact with a material under investigation.

Microprobe

A method of fabricating a self-aligned gated electron field emitter. An oxidation process forms an optimized, atomically sharp needle (18) in a silicon substrate (12). The needle and surrounding planar area are conformally coated with silicon dioxide (22). A dielectric layer (24) is deposited and planarized over the needle. The dielectric layer is then partially etched away so as to expose the coated needle. The silicon dioxide exposed on the needle is isotropically etched so as to undercut the dielectric layer. A gate metal is directionally deposited so as to form a gate layer (26) on the planar portions of the dielectric layer that is electrically isolated from the gate metal (28) deposited on the needle. The metal on the needle is anodically etched by applying the potential only to the silicon and not to the gate layer. Electro-plating may recoat the needle with another metal (30). The silicon substrate may be replaced by a glass substrate (42) on which is deposited a polysilicon or amorphous silicon layer (40). The invention allows the fabrication of an array of emitters with closely spaced gates over large areas and on inexpensive substrates.

Self-aligned gated electron field emitter

Tapered silicon structures, of interest for use, e.g., in atomic force microscopes, in field-emission devices, and in solid-state devices are made using silicon processing technology. Resulting tapered structures have, at their tip, a radius of curvature of 10 nanometers or less.

Device including a tapered microminiature silicon structure

Tapered silicon structures, of interest for use, e.g., in atomic force microscopes, in field-emission devices, and in solid state devices are made using silicon processing technology. Resulting tapered structures have, at their tip, a radius of curvature of 10 nanometers or less. Such preferred silicon structures are particularly suited as electron emitters in display devices.

Method for making tapered microminiature silicon structures

In a structure comprising an ultra-sharp silicon tip coated with a layer of material, the silicon is removed from the structure. The remaining material is utilized as a mold. Metal deposited in the mold replicates the original silicone tip. In this way, ultra-sharp all-metal tips suitable, for example, as field-emitter sources are provided.

Growing community of inventors

Murray Hill, NJ, United States of America

Robert B Marcus