Other

Merrill Lynch, Co., Inc

Umachines, Inc.

Thomas K Tsao

Aramais Avakian

Xuemei Cheng

Anthony C Pizi

Paul Kanevsky

Daniel Tyler

Paul C Cole

A method and apparatus for extracting surface representation from images and video data for segmenting image plane according to the surface connectivity, and identifying areas of images taken by a moving camera according to the object surfaces wherefrom the areas of images are taken, are disclosed. The invention discloses a method and apparatus comprising a plurality of processing modules for extracting from images in a video sequence the occluding contours delineating images into regions in accordance with the spatial connectivity of the correspondent visible surfaces, and diffeomorphism relations between areas of images taken from different perspective centers for identifying image areas of different frames as of the surface of same object, and specifying the fold contours of the surfaces that owns the contour, and thus producing the surface representations from video images taken from persistent objects by a moving camera.

Method and apparatus for building surface representations of 3D objects from stereo images

A method reduces movement of a reflector in an unintended mechanical mode during movement of the reflector in an intended mechanical mode. The method includes using a reflector driver to apply a distribution of forces to the reflector so as to move the reflector in both the intended mechanical mode and in the unintended mechanical mode. The distribution of forces is applied at a resonant frequency of the unintended mechanical mode. The method further includes adjusting the reflector driver to alter the distribution of forces applied to the reflector such that the movement of the reflector in the unintended mechanical mode is reduced.

Method of aligning a driving force with respect to a movable element using mechanical resonance

A system and a method for managing, organizing, and allocating service providers in the operational environment of a distributed computer network by applying trade and price mechanisms to a plurality of resource allocation decisions. Local resource allocation rules are set forth for maintaining a near-optimal, global load distribution. The service providers are dynamically allocated based upon the supply of the providers and the demand thereof. An automated mechanism, based on service provider reputation, channels demand away from failing or broken service providers. Strategic load balancing rules cause the elimination of ineffective service providers, and also provide a dynamic replication of service providers that cannot handle the current demand. Further, a method for managing the overall system behavior utilizes administrative surcharges.

Distributed adaptive computing

A method and apparatus is provided to determine affine disparity and affine invariant pattern distance from two image patterns. The method formulates the problem of determining affine disparity and affine invariant distances between two image patterns as one of finding an affine transform for an adjustable hypercolumn (HC) reference frame that maximally compensates the affine difference of the two image patterns. The image HC-coding and the difference vector is computed from two image patterns using specific orientation (SO) simple cell receptive fields employed in an HC-reference system. The Lie derivative of the difference vector is computed from image patterns using Lie germs. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the affine transform that maximally compensates the affine difference between two image patterns is found by a gradient system wherein the gradient is calculated from the difference vector and its Lie derivatives. A closed loop adaptive HC-reference frame network is provided to extract binocular affine disparity using an energy minimization technique in a manner which permits for coincidental binocular fusion of the images in the HC-coding and determination of affine invariant pattern distance in general.

Method and apparatus for determining binocular affine disparity and

A fish lure, simulating an earthworm or other annelid, includes a clitellum disposed intermediate its ends and eccentrically weighted relative to its central longitudinal axis such that the underside of the lure is weightedly-biased to face downward whenever the lure is in a body of water causing it, when falling to assume a U-shaped, life-like position. A paddle at the tail end of the lure causes the lure to move with a life-like wriggle as it drops through water. A lip proximate the head end of the lure likewise imparts a wriggling motion to the falling lure. The lip may be replaced with a medusa-like collar that opens and closes as the lure is drawn through water by a fishing line that is alternately pulled and relaxed.

Life-like fish lure

The club head of a golf putter has a substantially flat bottom surface to facilitate alignment of the putt and is symmetrically weight-balanced that it's heel-to-toe center to reduce torque effects and lower its center of gravity. The weight balancing is achieved with a dense sole plate having an elongated intermediate section joining two mass-concentrated heel and toe ends. A less dense body portion provides a soft putting face and has hollowed portions to further lower the center of gravity and concentrate the club head weight at the heel and toe. The front corners of the bottom surface are cut away to reduce scuffing during a golfing stroke. A sighting device on the club head facilitates alignment of a golfer's line of sight in a vertical plane which includes the golf ball, the club head 'sweet spot' and the putting target when the golfer's eye is positioned above and rearwardly of the club during alignment of the putt. The sighting device includes a rectangular recess in the upper surface of the putter and strategically located sighting lines on the upper surface and in the recess. The heel-to-toe center of the club includes the center of gravity and the 'sweet spot' and is coraxially aligned with the club shaft. The lower end of the club shaft is bent rearward of the club head to an attachment point on the rear surface of the club head, centrally between the heel and toe portions.

Golf putter

A golf putter has a club head with a golfer's sighting device in the form of an elongated prism positioned at the top of the club head and aligned with the intended location of ball impact on the club head putting face. An elongated colored strip is disposed in or under the prism and appears maximally wide when viewed from above the prism in a vertical alignment plane which includes the impact spot and the upper edge of the prism, thereby indicating that the golfer's head is properly positioned over the club head. The indicator can be used during actual play and/or, in conjunction with a pivotable shaft, to select the optimal angle between the head and shaft in fabricating a custom putter. An aluminum or other oxide coating on the club head provides the putting face with a greater friction and facilitates adherence of a material having low friction characteristis, such as TEFLON, to the bottom surface of the club head. The edge between the putting face and bottom surface tapers upwardly toward opposite ends of the head from the general location of intended impact with the ball to reduce the likelihood of erratic putting strokes due to unevenly cut grass. The TEFLON coating reduces friction between the bottom surface of the putter and the grass to thereby further assure steady, even putting strokes.

Growing community of inventors

Virginia Beach, VA, United States of America

Thomas K Tsao