A display system combines the principles of total internal reflection and halftone reflection. The display system includes a light guide, a light-reflecting see-through image disposed on the surface of the light guide, and a light-blocking see-through layer disposed over the image. A person viewing the light-blocking layer at a certain distance can see through the light guide without seeing the image. The display system can include a pair of eyeglasses that can provide self-illumination for night reading or serve as a hands-free flashlight. Also, novelty glasses can emit different colored lights as well as colored, lighted images. The display system can also include one-way see-through windows that emit lighted text and images for signage and advertising.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light guides that emit light. More specifically, the invention relates to see-through one-way light-emitting light guides and embodiments in eyeglasses and windows.
2. Description of Prior Art
Wearers of eyeglasses often need additional illumination when reading in a dimly lit environment. There are many patents that describe different means of providing such illumination through various attachments to eyeglasses or to a cap or band worn on the head. Some of these devices can also serve as a hands-free flashlights.
There are advertising glasses that allow a cover containing an image to be placed over the eyeglass lenses. There are also novelty glasses containing specially coated lenses that display a hologram. Other novelty glasses contain different colored lights on the frame, or flashing lights.
There are also many illuminated panels for use in signage and advertising. Some of these utilize perforated window coverings and decals to make the image a one-way see-through image.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,451 issued to Cochran on Mar. 3, 1981 and titled "Flashing spectacles" discloses, in the Abstract: "An electronic circuit comprised of several integrated circuits sequentially actuates a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LED's) located in an article such as eyeglass frames, which are carried or worn by a person. In one embodiment, an oscillator driven binary up-down counter drives first and second binary to one-of-four decoders. The LED's are arranged in an electrical circuit which allows them to be addressed in X-Y matrix fashion. The first decoder sequentially addresses each "row" of LED's while the second decoder sequentially addresses each "column" of LED's in the matrix so that each LED in the matrix circuit is sequentially flashed. After the entire array of LED's has been sequentially actuated a predetermined number of times, the up-down counter is electronically switched to the opposite state so as to reverse the order in which the LED's are sequentially actuated. In a second embodiment, an integrated circuit binary ripple counter/oscillator drives first and second demultiplexers. The first demultiplexer sequentially actuates the rows of LED's in an X-Y matrix LED circuit, while the second demultiplexer sequentially actuates the columns in the matrix. The demultiplexers may be driven by the ripple counter/oscillator in a manner which allows a less than 100 percent duty cycle, thereby minimizing the drain on the battery power supply. The integrated circuits used are preferably of the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) type for minimizing battery drain. When the invention is incorporated in eyeglass frames, the LED circuit is automatically switched on when the temple pieces of the frames are unfolded for wearing, and automatically switched off when the temple pieces are folded for storage." This patent describes a pair of spectacles which contains flashing LEDs on the frames around the lenses. The lenses of these spectacles, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,127 issued to Rosenwinkel on Aug. 11, 1981 and titled "Novelty eyeglasses" discloses, in the Abstract: "A pair of novelty eyeglasses includes a frame for supporting them on the wearer's head and a pair of transparent lenses. The frame includes a pair of support earpieces connected by hinges to the frames. Two light emitting diodes or LEDs are secured to the frame, one adjacent each lense and connected to a portable source of power, such as small batteries, mounted in one of the earpieces. A hinge switch, defined at one of the hinges connecting one of the earpieces to the frame, must be closed by moving the respective earpiece to the open position before the LEDs can be actuated. A manually actuatable switch is secured to the frame in series with the batteries and the light emitting diodes. The manually actuatable switch can be selectively closed by the user to energize the LEDs thereby creating a novel effect." This patent describes a pair of novelty glasses having an LED secured to the frame of each lens. The lenses of the glasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,488 issued to Dunklin et al on Nov. 9, 1982 and titled "Simulated vehicle louvre applique" discloses, in the Abstract: "A low cost sun screen device for use on motor vehicles is disclosed comprising a perforated polymer laminate sheet which is affixed to the interior surface of the vehicle rear window. The outermost surface of the laminate sheet includes artwork and other indicia formed thereon which when viewed by an observer through the rear window of the vehicle, simulates the appearance of a three-dimensional mechanical window louvre structure. The perforated laminate sheet provides an aesthetically pleasing, effective sunshield which reduces the temperature of the interior compartment of the vehicle by as much as forty percent while insuring that occupant visibility is not adversely affected." This patent describes the construction of a perforated laminate for use on automobile windows containing artwork that simulates a mechanical window louvre structure. The laminate, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
French Patent 2585479 issued to Koubi on 1-30, 1987 and titled "Illuminating spectacle-frame device" discloses, in the Abstract: "Device illuminating the field of vision of the wearer and protecting his eyes. The invention presented here relates to plastic spectacle frames fitted with a clamping system 27 which can receive lenses 6 for the protection or the correction of the sight of the wearer and with two mini-headlights 2 located at the ends of the frame and connected to an electrical cable 1 embedded in the bulk as well as in one of the sides 3 and emerging at the end of the side as a flexible wire with two connections 4, the wire being insulated in accordance with the standard and being terminated by a male connector 5 which can be connected to the power-supply case 26. This case 26 includes a cover 22 equipped with an on/off push button 24 for establishing the electrical connection between the battery and the mini-headlights. The frame is held in place by attaching, at the ends of the sides, two curved plastic pieces 14 which match the back of the head (a device which is easily removed). The device, according to the invention, is particularly intended for all work requiring a constant illumination over the work area with or without protection of the eyes (professional and leisure use)." This patent describes a device attachable to a spectacle frame containing two mini-headlights near the left and right hinge of the spectacle to provide illumination for reading. The lenses of these spectacles, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,609 issued to Hill on Jun. 15, 1987 and titled "Unidirectional panel" discloses, in the Abstract: "A panel which comprises a substrate of transparent or translucent material having applied to one or both sides a design superimposed on, or forming part of, an opaque pattern so that the design on one side of the panel cannot be seen from the other side." This patent describes the construction of a one-way see-through panel where an image can be observed or made transparent by using contrasting illumination from one side to the other. The image, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,160 issued to Tsai on Apr. 18, 1989 and titled "Flashing spectacles" discloses, in the Abstract: "This invention relates to a pair of flashing spectacles and in particular to one including a pair of spectacles, and an electrical device which has an external resistor for controlling frequency of the square waves generated by the oscillator, an on/off latch having an input connected with one and of a reset switch and an output connected with the oscillator and a counter, a decoder controller connected to output of the counter, an open drain driver connected with the decoder controller, a plurality of light emitting diodes connected with output of the open drain driver and a battery connected between output of the light emitting diodes and the other end of the reset switch whereby the light emitting diodes will emit light in turn when the reset switch is pressed once but will extinguish when the reset switch is further pressed." This patent describes novelty spectacles which contain a series of flashing LEDs on the upper part of the spectacles. The lenses of these spectacles, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,161 issued to Jimmy on Apr. 18, 1989 and titled "Illuminating spectacle apparatus" discloses, in the Abstract: "An illuminating spectacle apparatus is set forth wherein a generally "U" shaped framework is provided with a forward centrally positioned "U" shaped inner and outer lens. Between the respective inner and outer lens are positioned a series of lights constructed and arranged for sequential flashing by a remote power supply and control box arrangement." This patent describes novelty spectacles consisting of a "U" shaped frame with a series of lenses and lights that blink sequentially. The lenses of these spectacles, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,622 issued to Leavitt on Jul. 10, 1990 and titled "Printed film sheet" discloses, in the Abstract: "A method for applying informational images, such as advertising, to surfaces, particularly the windows of commercial vehicles. The method comprises applying a UV resistant emulsion to a laminate substrate of perforated metalized polymeric vinyl. The coated substrate is silk-screened with the appropriate image and is secured to the interior of the vehicle window by a peripheral tape strip and by spray adhesive." This patent describes the construction of a perforated substrate that is subsequently screen printed with an image. The printed film sheet, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,760 issued to Wu on Sep. 25, 1990 and titled "Lighting equipment for an eyeglasses" discloses, in the Abstract: "A lighting equipment for an eyeglasses includes a fin attached to one side of a main frame of the eyeglasses. A clamping frame has a pair of retaining plates formed at one side and a pair of clamping plates formed at an other side. The fin is force-fitted within the retaining plates of the clamping frame. A housing has an open lateral end enclosable by the clamping frame. A bulb is force-fitted and laterally rotatable within the housing. The light beam emitted from the bulb is adjustable both in a vertical direction and in a lateral direction." This patent describes a lighting device that is attachable to eyeglasses and can adjust the direction of the emitted light. The lenses of the eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
British Patent 2,244,585 issued to Akers on Dec. 2, 1991 and titled "Transparent material with perforations" discloses, in the Abstract: "A transparent material C for use in advertising, supports one or more printed layers D and E, and is attached to a substrate A which may be a window or other transparent material. To improve the visibility of the printed layers, the material C is provided with a plurality of perforations F. These perforations may be of circular, square or other shape, and the perforations may be effected before or after the addition of printed layers. The material C and printed layers, may be attached to the substrate A by means of a self-cling layer B. Material C may be a vinyl polymer." This patent describes the construction of a perforated transparent material for use in advertising. The transparent material, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,218 issued to Black on May 19, 1992 and titled "Liquid crystal sunglasses with selectively color adjustable lenses" discloses, in the Abstract: "LC sunglasses with selectively color adjustable lenses comprising an energy cell (30) attached to one butt-strap (22) of a rim (10), a color changing switch (28) supported by another butt-strap (24), a memory chip (26) supported by a bridge portion (16) of the glasses rim, and lenses (12 and 14) of a laminated structure. Each lens consists of a color mosaic mask (43), an input polarizing plate (44), a liquid crystal cell (50) sandwiched between voltage-controlled active matrices (52a and 52b), and an output polarizing plate (46). When the wearer of the sunglasses wants to change the color of the lenses (12 and 14), he/she installs the switch (28) into the position of a selected color, whereby the battery cell (30) is electrically connected with respective pixel sets of the active matrices (52a and 52b) via the memory chip (26). As a result, the lenses will pass only the component of the white light (W) which corresponds to the selected color." This patent describes sunglasses that can be made to change colors by the wearer. The sunglass lenses, however, do not emit a lighted graphic image.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,180 issued to Watts on Apr. 13, 1993 and titled "Printed film sheet" discloses, in the Abstract: "A flexible decorative web that can be laminated to a substrate and that exhibits serial changes in its appearance with changes in viewing angle relative to incident white light. Chromatic, iridescent and metallic pigments produce three separate appearance zones where the chromatic pigment is most predominant, where the iridescent pigment is most predominant and where a transition occurs and neither the chromatic pigment nor the iridescent pigment predominates. The metallic pigment accentuates the iridescent appearance or flash by its sparkle effect produced both in the iridescent appearance areas and in the transition areas immediately surrounding and highlighting the iridescent appearance areas." This patent describes the construction of a decorative film that exhibits changes in its appearance when viewed or illuminated from different angles. The film, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,791 issued to Fujita et al on Jun. 8, 1993 and titled "Printed film sheet" discloses, in the Abstract: "A printed film sheet in which an image printed on a transparent film sheet can be seen from both the printed side and the non-printed side of said film sheet. The transparent film sheet is provided with a coating composition containing one or more pigments and one or more adhesives so that said film sheet has a brightness of above 50%. The pigments include one or more pigments having a linseed oil absorption of 10 to 80 ml/100 g in an amount of 70 to 100% by weight of the total pigment content. The film sheet has an opacity of 20 to 60% and is printed so that the difference between the ink density of a printed image on the printed side of said film sheet and the ink density thereof on the non-printed side of said film sheet is below 35%." This patent describes a method to print an image on a transparent film such that the image is clearly recognizable from the printed side and the reverse side. The image, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,385 issued o Lii on Jun. 8, 1993 and titled "Flash light eyeglasses with hinge switch" discloses, in the Abstract: "A pair of flash eyeglasses has a switch positioned in a space between two screw projections at one end of a frame fitted with a flash light board therein. A skull temple has an ear at one end to be combined between the two projections in the frame with a screw so that the skull temple can swing open or closes with the screw as a pivot. A switch is placed in the space between the two projections in the frame to be pressed or released to turn on or off a circuit of the flash light board by the ear in the skull temple when the skull temple is swung open or closed." This patent describes eyeglasses with a hinge that turns on a flash light switch when the two temple arms are open, and turns off the flash light switch when the two temple arms are closed. The lenses of these eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,214 issued to Cooledge et al on Nov. 2, 1993 and titled "Preprinted thin plastic film wall covering, and method for making the same" discloses, in the Abstract: "Thin filmed thermoplastic material wall coverings having a preprinted image thereon and provided with a static electrical charge for securing the coverings to a surface. The wall covering may comprise posters, maps, and the like, and the image is printed on the film by means such as silk-screening. The static electrical charge is sufficient to removably secure the film to a wall surface, a window, or the like, and allows for relocation of the covering without damage to the surface upon which it is secured. The coverings may be packaged individually, or be dispensed from a continuous roll. Preprinted maps adherable to a window surface such as a windshield of an automobile are provided." This patent describes the construction of wall and window coverings using static cling film pre-printed with an image. The image, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,796 issued to Elbing et al on Dec. 28, 1993 and titled "Paper translites" discloses, in the Abstract: "This invention relates to paper translites comprising a translucent paper sheet or web bearing on the front facing thereof an image area of a right reading in one or more colors, and on the back facing thereof an image area but of a reverse image and of the same colors. Each of the image areas is printed by halftone dots, and the image area of the reverse image has substantially dot-for-dot registration with the image area of the right reading. The printing plate used for printing the image area for the reverse image has about the same or a lower percentage of halftone dots than the printing plate used for printing the image area for the right reading, thereby resulting in a lighter value for each color of the reverse image relative to the same color of the right reading. The resulting translite is equally pleasing viewed by reflective light only and viewed by transmitted light." This patent describes the construction of printed halftone images that can be viewed with reflective or transmitted light. The images, however, are not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,433 issued to Weinreich on Sep. 11, 1994 and titled "Mirror illusion" discloses, in the Abstract: "By a new configuration which more efficiently controls illumination, it is possible to make a mirror dissolve illusion which uses less power than those previously known in the art. A reflector and lamp assembly is provided in front of a partially reflective and partially transparent (one-way) mirror to direct light to a viewer via the one-way mirror. The technique includes use of a backlit wall pattern and a reflective floor surface along with a mirror of reduced density." This patent describes the use of a one-way mirror and variable illumination to make an object appear and disappear to a viewer. Illumination is not created through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,977 issued to Liu on Dec. 27, 1994 and titled "Glasses structure for advertising" discloses, in the Abstract: "The present invention relates to a kind of glasses structure for advertising mainly comprising a movable cover plate, a pair of glasses and a hook mounting. The movable cover is inserted to the front frame of the glasses at the two convex pieces found on each side by means of a convex axis designed at both sides of the upper section of the glasses. The hook mounting is specially designed such that the pair of glasses can be kept at the waist to a belt and the movable cover plate can thereon be used as a very convenient means of publicity." This patent describes a cover plate fitted over a pair of glasses as an advertising item. There is no illumination.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,623 issued to Egan on Jul. 11, 1995 and titled "Optical lens incorporating an integral hologram" discloses, in the Abstract: "A lens design consisting of a multi-component assembly, with one of the said components being a (decorative) hologram. The said assembly being comprised of an optical-quality holographic recording material coating applied to the inner or outer surface of a primary lens element, upon which a hologram may then be recorded in-situ, and may be used alone, or be optically contacted to a secondary lens element to form a unitary assembly of high optical quality and clarity, with the holographic recording material being encapsulated between the primary and secondary elements. The said lens assembly may be of simple or compound curvature, and be used in functional, prescription-quality eyewear of single or multi-lens type. Also, one or more of the lens components, other than the hologram, may function in a light-filtering role, so as to visually eliminate unwanted images or colors to the wearer, and further allow such lens assemblies to be used in sunglasses. In addition, the said lens assembly may contain multiple images on the holographic recording material, which are visible to an observer during different periods of daytime sunlight, or under various artificial lighting conditions." This patent describes the construction of an optical quality lens which incorporate a hologram as an integral portion of the lens. The lens, however, does not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,358 issued to Chien on Jan. 16, 1996 and titled "Universal L.E.D. safety light for head-wear" discloses, in the Abstract: "A lighting arrangement for head-wear is made up of several light emitting diodes mounted on a flexible plate. The flexible plate is one of the straps of the length-adjustable belt conventional provided at the rear of a cap. The strap on which the LED is mounted may be stitched to the rear of the cap in conventional fashion and used for length adjustment purposes or may alternatively by stitched to the side of the cap to be used solely as a mounting for the lighting arrangement." This patent describes a flexible plate of LEDs that can be mounted onto head-wear to create a novelty head-wear. This flexible plate, however, does not involve eyeglasses that emit light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,177 issued to Ross on Jun. 11, 1996 and titled "Image transfer method for one way vision display panel" discloses, in the Abstract: "A method of producing an image onto a surface of a one-way vision display panel of the type which is constructed as a perforated membrane having an opaque light-reflective surface and a light-absorbing surface and whereby the image is clearly visible when viewing the display panel from one direction and wherein the perforated membrane permits substantially unobstructed through-viewing when viewing the display panel from a second, opposite direction. The method substantially eliminates the corona effect of the image while viewing the display panel in the through-viewing direction, the corona effect being the result of stray ink which has traveled from the image layer into the through-holes of the perforated membrane during the image printing process. The method includes the steps of: electrostatically transferring ink onto a transfer medium as a reverse image for temporarily holding the reverse image for later transfer to a surface of a perforated membrane; and transferring the reverse image from the transfer medium using heat and/or pressure in order to form a desired correctly oriented image onto only the solid bar portions of a surface of a perforated membrane without any substantial image transfer into or through the through-holes of the perforated membrane such that the correctly oriented image is substantially undetectable when looking at the one-way vision display panel in the second, opposite through-viewing direction." This patent describes a method of printing an image onto a one-way perforated display panel. The display panel, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,573 issued to August on Jan. 14, 1997 and titled "Image display glasses having an LCD for displaying an image wherein the image provides for viewing by others" discloses, in the Abstract: "Glasses include lens assemblies held by a frame to be worn by a user. The lens assemblies have liquid crystal displays which are operatively connected to a PC board mounted on the frame. The printed circuit board drives the liquid crystal display to produce animated images which may be seen by one facing the wearer. A battery mounted on the frame powers the chip and PC board." This patent describes a method to produce glasses having animated images displayed on the lenses. A liquid crystal display (LCD) connected to a PC board is used to create the images on the lenses. Illumination is not derived from light extracted from a light guide.
Japanese Patent 9017204 issued to Isobe on Jan. 17, 1997 and titled "Glasses mounted luminaire" discloses, in the Abstract: "PURPOSE: To accurately read out fine letters and numerals even in a dark place. CONSTITUTION: A set of lighting systems are mounted on the part of the bow 5 of a glasses. Since they are mounted direct to a glasses, small-size, lightweight and fine view are required. An LED lamp having high reliability is used for an illumination lamp. A horizontal off-switch 7 is actuated during conversation to put out lights so as to prevent illumination light from entering the eye of a companion to talk with." This patent describes an LED assembly mounted on the temple arm of glasses to illuminate the area in front of the glasses. The lenses of the glasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,231 issued to Lin on Jan. 28, 1997 and titled "Glasses capable of producing a three-D visual effect" discloses, in the Abstract: "It is a pair of glasses capable of producing a 3-D visual effect, mainly including a frame, two polarizing lenses set in the frame, and two additional laminated lenses removably disposed either in front of or behind the two polarizing lenses. The laminated lenses each consists of two glass sheet layers, an LCD layer between the two glass sheet layers, and a polarizer layer attached to an outer side of one of the two glass sheet layers. When a voltage is applied to the LCD layer, molecules constituting the LCD layer rotate and change their arrangement directions to produce light blocking effect, enabling the glasses to be used as an LCD shutter glass for watching a 3-D image system. When the additional laminated lenses are removed, the glasses can be used as a normal sun glass." This patent describes the construction of glasses for producing 3-D effects using an LCD layer. Illumination is not created through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,563 issued to Lane on Aug. 19, 1997 and titled "Picture illumination display device" discloses, in the Abstract: "A picture illumination display device (10) comprising a picture frame (12). A one-way mirror (14) is in the picture frame (12), so that when a person normally looks into the one-way mirror (14) a reflection will be seen. A picture (16) is carried in the picture frame (12) behind the one-way mirror (14). A facility (18) behind the picture (16), is for producing light. Once the light producing facility (18) is activated an image of the picture (16) will be projected through the one-way mirror (14), to allow a person looking into the one-way mirror (14) to see the projected image from the picture (16)." This patent describes a picture display device that utilizes a one-way mirror together with a light source behind the picture in order to project the image from the picture. Illumination is not created through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,435 issued to Andriash on Oct. 21, 1997 and titled "Vision control panels with perforations and method of making" discloses, in the Abstract: "A retro-reflective vision control panel which includes an opaque sheet material coated with retro-reflective light reflecting particles and a dark opaque color on the reverse side thereof, and an image formed over top the retro-reflective particles using colored light permeable translucent inks or films to form an image thereon. The opaque sheet and image have a plurality of perforations spaced thereover such that when the light level on the image side of said panel is slightly less than, equal to, or greater than that on the other side, an observer on the image side clearly sees the image while an observer on the other side sees through the panel without seeing any trace whatsoever of the image or design." This patent describes the construction of a one-way see-through perforated panel containing a colored image. The panel, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,762 issued to Soll on Mar. 3, 1998 and titled "Illumination device for mounting on the head of a user" discloses, in the Abstract: "An illumination device for mounting on the head of a user including a frame having a cross member and a pair of rearwardly extending temple members attached to opposite ends of the cross member. At least one focusable light assembly is rotatably mounted to the frame and includes a light source for emitting light. The light assembly is adjustable by the user for varying the vergence and direction of the light emitted from the light source." This patent describes an illumination device incorporated into a specialized eyeglass-type frame. This is a standalone device and is not mounted onto eyeglasses or function as eyeglasses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,060 issued to Johnson on Apr. 21, 1998 and titled "Baseball cap light" discloses, in the Abstract: "A combination baseball style cap and light assembly, wherein the cap has a crown, a bill extending from the crown, a sweatband liner circumscribing the bottom edge of the cap, and a reinforcing crown liner, has a double light and switch assembly comprising two lamp sockets affixed to a mounting plate on each side of a sealed sub-mini micro switch also affixed to the mounting plate. The plate is in turn affixed to the underside of the bill of the cap, two lamp sockets affixed to the mounting plate such that their axes decline at an acute angle to the plane of the plate and converge at an acute angle to a line perpendicular to the front edge of the plate, setting the focal point of the lamps at a predetermined location directly out from and generally equidistant between the wearers eyes. A micro switch is affixed to an integral mounting flange on the mounting plate located approximately on the center line of the mounting plate between the two sockets. First and second battery holders are each affixed respectively to each side of the center line of the top edge of the reinforcing element of the crown of the cap and the top edge of the crown of the cap, and a circuit electrically couples the micro switch, the lamp sockets and the battery holders." This patent describes lamps mounted to the visor of a baseball cap. The lamps, however, do not involve eyeglasses that emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,529 issued to Ross on Nov. 3, 1998 and titled "Perimeter coating alignment" discloses, in the Abstract: "A method of forming a scratch resistant color ink pattern of multi-color coatings (5) onto a see-through panel (6) with exact registration between successive color coatings of the pattern. The method of the invention includes the steps of: providing a base material (1) having an ink printable release coating on one side thereof; applying a first color coating of ceramic ink (75) to the printable release coating side of the base material (1); applying at least one additional color coating of ceramic ink (76) over at least a portion of the first color coating of ceramic ink (75); perforating the base material to provide a pattern of light passages (28) therethrough, the light passages (28) defining aligned edges of successive color coatings of ceramic inks to ensure exact registration between said successive color coatings of ceramic inks; transferring the pattern of color coatings of ceramic inks (5) onto a surface of a see-through panel (6); and heating the see-through panel (6) to fuse said pattern of color coatings of ceramic inks (5) onto said surface of said see-through panel (6). In one embodiment, the base material (1) consists of water slide paper and such that the pattern of color coatings is wetted and transferred to the see-through panel by water slide transfer. In another embodiment, the base material consists of heat transfer paper and the pattern of color coatings is transferred by application of heat and pressure or just pressure alone." This patent describes a method of forming a perforated see-through panel with multiple print coatings. The panel, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,600 issued to Kuo on Apr. 26, 1999 and titled "Spectacle lens structure with a planar reflective outer surface" discloses, in the Abstract: "A spectacle lens structure includes a light transmitting base plate having a serrated surface defining a hologram. A thin reflective coating having a planar outer surface is provided on the serrated surface to partially reflect an incident light and allow the remaining portion of the incident light to penetrate and diffract about the serration for the formation of the holographic image. The reflective coating may be of a refractive index quite different from that of the base plate so as to provide a brazed 3-D image. If the reflective coating is made of a material having a refractive index close to the base plate, then a further coating having a high refractive index, such as ZnS, has to be provided on the reflective coating to provide a brazed 3-D image." This patent describes a lens structure in spectacles for the formation of a hologram on a surface of the lens for decorative purposes. The lenses of the spectacles, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,071 issued to Feldmasn on Aug. 31, 1999 and titled "Portable reading light" discloses, in the Abstract: "An eyeglass frame includes an elongated flexible electroluminescent light source extending along a perimeter extent of the frame. A self contained voltage source is also carried by the eyeglass frame, together with a manually operable switch. When the switch is placed in the On position a continuous source of electroluminescent light will be emitted along the entire perimeter extent of the frame which includes the electroluminescent light source. A reflective surface may be provided along the rear of the eyeglass frame so that all the rays of the electroluminescent light source are forwardly directed." This patent describes an eyeglass frame containing a flexible electro-luminescent light source. The eyeglass lenses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,165 issued to Lehrer on Dec. 7, 1999 and titled "Portable reading light device" discloses, in the Abstract: "A portable reading light device adapted to be worn about the head of a user or the like. The device utilizes a projection housing adapted to be used as the light source having the terminal end of a fiberoptic mounted therein, the other end extending to a remote lamp unit having a reflector and a light bulb mounted therein." This patent describes a reading light device worn on the head of the user. The lenses of the glasses worn by the user, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,827 issued o Caplan et al on Jan. 11, 2000 and titled "Mounting apparatus for head- and body-borne optics and illumination devices" discloses, in the Abstract: "A mount for affixing devices such as lightweight illuminators to spectacles is described. The mount includes a pair of opposable jaws pivotably affixed together about a pivot axis, the jaws being intended for affixation about spectacles (e.g., the nosebridge of spectacles), and a mounting yoke pivotably affixed to the clip. The mounting yoke may then pivotably bear an illuminator to allow the illuminator to move in three degrees of freedom." This patent describes an apparatus for mounting illuminators to spectacles. The lenses of the spectacles, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,286 issued to Duffy on Jan. 2, 2001 and titled "Brim mounted novelty light for sports caps" discloses, in the Abstract: "A novelty light for baseball style sports attachable to the brim of the cap and positioned to illuminate the front of the crown or head covering portion of the cap. A sports team insignia is preferably attached or attachable to the crown in the area of illumination. The light is arranged to flicker or flash on and off at a high rate and may be contained in a housing appropriate to the sport associated with the team insignia." This patent describes a novelty light attached to the brim of sports caps to illuminate a sports team insignia, often with a flickering or flashing light. This attachment, however, does not involve glasses that project light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,680 issued to Novak on Mar. 6, 2001 and titled "Chemiluminescent eyeglass frame" discloses, in the Abstract: "A chemiluminescent novelty eyeglass frame has curved portions which will extend proximate the eyes of the user. The curved portions are formed with channels which are adapted to receive compartmented ampules containing a chemiluminescent solution separated from an activator. A frangible barrier is provided in the ampules, and the barrier is ruptured by bending the ampules for insertion into the channels. In this way, the chemiluminescent solution and activator mix to produce chemiluminescent light emanating from the frame upon insertion of the ampules into the channels of the curved portions of the eyeglass frame." This patent describes a chemiluminescent novelty eyeglass frame where the chemicals can be mixed by the wearer in a simple manner. The lenses of the eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,076 issued to Andriash on Jun. 5, 2001 and titled "Illuminated imageable vision control panels and methods of fabricating" discloses, in the Abstract: "A vision control panel for application to a transparent surface includes a poly-coated adhesive release liner adhered to the underside of a substrate formed of electroluminescent (EL) or luminescent material, a power supplying bus where an electroluminescent material is used, a primary coating overlying the opposite side of the substrate, a first ink receptor coating overlying the binder coating, a second ink receptor coating overlying the first ink receptor coating, a printed image on the second ink receptor coating and a protectant over-laminate. With the exception of the protectant over-laminate, the underlying layers are perforated to enable an observer on the inside of the transparent surface to see through the panel, i.e., through the perforations, while an observer on the opposite side of the panel sees only the illuminated image printed on the panel. To fabricate the panel, opaque coatings are applied to the inside margins of the perforations to prevent light from leaking EL or luminescent material through the perforations to either panel side. A non-perforated release liner is then applied to the poly-coated liner prior to applying the second ink receptor coating and subsequent to perforating. Next, the second ink receptor coating is applied over the first ink receptor coating and onto the surface portions of the non-perforated liner in registration with the perforations to dry the ink subsequently applied during printing. The non-perforated liner is removed with the ink surface portions thereof and the protectant over-laminate is subsequently applied to a surface." This patent describes the construction of an illuminated one-way see-through perforated panel containing a colored image. The panel, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,429 issued to Nelson on Jul. 10, 2001 and titled "One-way see-thru panel and method of making same" discloses, in the Abstract: "A see-through, one-way panel having a white opaque substrate with a dark pigmented adhesive on the rear side. The pigmented adhesive is covered with a release liner. The substrate, adhesive and liner are perforated and thereafter an imperforate barrier is laminated over the release liner. The front surface may be top coated to accept a dye based ink. The front surface is printed with an image by thermal or piezo ink jet printing technology. The resulting panel may then be adhesively applied to a surface." This patent describes the construction of a one-way, see-through perforated panel printed with an image used as signage. The panel, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,598 issued to Hicks on Mar. 19, 2002 and titled "Decorative translucent window covering" discloses, in the Abstract: "A flexible plastic window covering which combines the qualities of being translucent, colorful, easily installed in any size, self-adhering, removable and reusable, easily cleaned, wear and fade resistant, ultraviolet light absorbing, and decorative while providing privacy or hiding an unwanted view." This paten describes the construction of a repositionable translucent window covering. This window covering, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,640 issued to Wong on May 21, 2002 and titled "Lighted masks for underwater divers" discloses, in the Abstract: "A lighted mask for underwater divers utilizing a monochromatic blue-green LED light source secured to the mask directing light to the front of the face plate of the mask and having a push button control mounted on the mask for actuating the light source." This patent describes a mask worn over the eyes for underwater divers on which is mounted an LED lighting device that projects light outward from the mask. The lens of the mask, however, does not emit any light.
U.S. Patent Application 20030189824 published by Meeder on Oct. 9, 2003 and titled "Portable reading light" discloses, in the Abstract: "A reading light comprises a frame for supporting the reading light adjacent to a user's face and a first light source mounting member a first end of which is coupled to the frame, wherein a second end of the first light source mounting member is moveable with respect to the frame in combination with a first light emitting diode coupled to the second end of the first light source mounting member so that movement of the second end of the first light source mounting member relative to the frame redirects light emitted by the first light emitting diode." This patent describes a light assembly attachable to the frame of a pair of glasses to provide light for reading. The lenses of these eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,029 issued to Prejzek on Oct. 28, 2003 and titled "Light optical system, especially for information, advertising illumination or decorative purposes" discloses, in the Abstract: "An illuminated display and illuminator for illuminating a planar light conductor with a light source. The illuminator has an injector comprising a wedge-shaped body made of transparent material having a refractive index higher than air, the optical interface between the injector and the light conductor being optically homogeneous. The input side of the injector is shaped such that light entering the injector through the input side is brought into focus at a point inside the planar light conductor or behind it. The illuminator also has a light guide located in an optical path between the light source and the input side of the injector, such that light is guided by the lightguide from the light source to the injector; and into the planar light conductor through the optically homogeneous optical interface, and is distributed through the planar light conductor by internal reflection within the body of the planar light conductor." This patent describes a wedge-shaped body to inject light into a planar light guide and where light is distributed within the light guide through total internal reflection. This patent does not provide for the construction of see-through one-way light-emitting images that extract light from the planar light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,506 issued to Maas et al on Jun. 8, 2004 and titled "Luminaire and light-emitting panel" discloses, in the Abstract: "A luminaire comprises a relatively thin and flat light-emitting panel (1) having a light-emitting window (2) and, opposite said light-emitting window, a rear wall (3) with opposed edge surfaces (4, 14). At least one of the edge surfaces (4) is light transmitting and associated with a plurality of light sources (5, 5′, 5″, . . . ). Light originating from the light sources (5, 5′, 5″, . . . ) is spread in the panel (1). The invention is characterized in that a plurality of deformities (7, 7′, 7″, . . . ; 8, 8′, . . . ) is provided in the panel (1) for extracting light from the panel (1) via the light emission window (2). The deformities (7, 7′, 7″, . . . 8, 8′, . . . ) are clustered so as to form at least one light symbol (27; 28). The configuration of the clusters (17; 18) of deformities (7, 7′, 7″, . . . ; 8, 8′, . . . ) corresponds to the shape of the light symbol (27; 28). Preferably, the luminaire has a first and a second light-transmitting edge surface, with respectively, a first and a second plurality of light sources being associated with said surfaces. A first cluster of deformities only couples light from the first light source out of the panel, thereby forming a first light symbol, while a second cluster of deformities only couples light from the second light source out of the panel, thereby forming a second light symbol, independently of the formation of the first light symbol. The luminaire according to the invention provides independent lighting and coloring possibilities of light symbols in a single-panel luminaire." This patent describes the construction of an edge lighting system for signage and advertising display. It does not provide one-way see-through capability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,432 issued to Richardson on Jun. 22, 2004 and titled "Identification card with embedded halftone image security feature perceptible in transmitted light" discloses, in the Abstract: "An information-bearing laminar assembly, suitable for use as an identification card, is disclosed. The assembly is characterized by the provision therein of an embedded halftone image security feature that becomes visible essentially only when the assembly is viewed in transmitted light. The information-bearing laminar assembly comprises an inner information-bearing layer interposed between a first and a second light-transmissive protective outer layer. The inner layer contains both visible information-bearing indicia and an imagewise halftone pattern of laser-ablated microholes. The light-transmissivity of the information-bearing inner layer within said half-tone pattern is imagewise differentiated at each microhole as a function of the microhole's penetration depth. Sandwiched between the protective outer layers, the halftone pattern is imperceptible when the information-bearing laminar assembly is viewed in reflection and perceptible when the information-bearing laminar assembly is viewed in transmission." This patent describes a technique for displaying a half-tone image on an identification card when viewed in transmitted light. Illumination is not created through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Patent Application 20040150986 published by Chang on Aug. 5, 2004 and titled "Magnetically attachable light assembly for glasses" discloses, in the Abstract: "A light assembly that can be magnetically attached to a pair of glasses. The assembly has a light source and a housing, which has a first magnetic element. When the light assembly is attached to a pair of glasses, the person wearing the glasses would not block the light emitted from the light assembly; the first magnetic element is magnetically coupled to a second magnetic element; and at least a portion of the housing extends over at least a portion of the glasses to provide support for the light assembly, if necessary." This patent describes a family of light assemblies that attach to glasses to provide light for reading. The lenses of these eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,265 issued to Harper on Nov. 30, 2004 and titled "Illuminated safety and work glasses" discloses, in the Abstract: "An illuminated safety/work glasses device (202) utilizing light emitting diodes embedded into a one-piece flexible array (101) mounted to the left and right side of the lens (102). The light emitting diodes are positioned to the left and right, and above and below the wearer's eyes and may be powered through use of rechargeable powered earpieces (103 and 111) or remote battery pack (207)." This patent describes the use of light emitting diode arrays mounted to the left and right side of safety glasses to provide illumination. The lenses of the safety glasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Patent Application 20040250457 published by Strein on Dec. 16, 2004 and titled "Transparent electronic illuminated display" discloses, in the Abstract: "The present invention provides an illuminated electronic display which in one preferred form employs LED's to form characters in a message that is desired to be displayed to an intended viewer. A display of the invention is translucent, and is thus suitable for placement in locations which precluded locating illuminated electronic displays of the prior art in those same locations by virtue of the opaqueness of the displays of the prior art. A display means according to the invention may be placed in the rear window of an automobile, without adversely impacting the drivability of the vehicle owing to the translucency of the display. Other window locations are suitable for employment of a device according to the invention as well." This patent describes an illuminated transparent display comprised of a clear rectangular solid with holes through which light transmitted through thin optical fibers are emitted. Light, however, is not extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,739 issued to Watson on Feb. 22, 2005 and titled "Illuminated eyewear and a method for illuminating eyewear" discloses, in the Abstract: "Illuminated eyewear and a method for illuminating eyewear are provided. The eyewear may have a bridge which is connected to arms at either side of the bridge. A lens may be connected to the bridge. Positioned between the lens and the bridge may be a light source. Light emitted from the light source may enter the lens and may be projected along an edge of the lens. The light may provide an outline of a shape of the lens, and may also provide a decorative display." This patent describes a method for illuminating the edge of the lens of eyeglasses to provide a decorative display. The lenses of these eyeglasses, however, do not serve as light guides from which light is extracted.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,861,116 issued to Emmert on Mar. 1, 2005 and titled "Laser printable window decal from construction" discloses, in the Abstract: "A window decal form is suitable for laser printing and enables ready installation of a decal to the inside of a vehicle window or the like. The window decal form construction includes a liner sheet having a front side and a back side. An adhesive release coating is disposed on the back side of the liner sheet framing a decal area. The decal area and the adhesive release coating define a label area. The label is affixed to the back side of the liner sheet covering the label area via a permanent adhesive. The decal area on the front side of the liner sheet is die cut such that the decal area is removed when the label is peeled from the back side of the liner sheet. This patent describes the construction of a window decal form suitable for laser printing. This window decal, however, does not provide one-way see-through capability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,416 issued to Waters on Mar. 8, 2005 and titled "Lighting device" discloses, in the Abstract: "Lighted reading glasses are provided to enable clear reading of normal sized text to occur when the reading material is held at usual distances from the reader in dimly lit or dark locations. The lighted glasses have high intensity lights, such as in the form of LEDs that generate narrow light beam cones and which are oriented via light mounts as by inward canting of the light beam cones to meet and overlap so high brightness light is generated in a conical overlap area of light which is maximized in size in the range of normal reading distances. The light mounts include housings that are very compactly sized via the use of small coin cell batteries for powering the LEDs they hold. The housings are tapered from their maximum width sized to be slightly larger than the diameter of the disc-shaped cell batteries to either end thereof along their length, and have a depth sized to accommodate two of the stacked very thin, e.g., one-eighth of an inch each, coin cell batteries. In this manner, a very small and compact light module is provided that, while especially well-suited for reading glasses due to the preferred inward cant provided by light mounting surfaces of the housing to tailor the location of the overlap lighted area to the reading area, can also be used with other types of head gear, such as caps or other types of hats." This patent describes lighting modules attached to the temple arms of eyeglasses to provide directed bright light for reading in dimly lit areas. The lenses of the eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,872,435 issued to Bull et al on Mar. 29, 2005 and titled "Printed film sheet" discloses, in the Abstract: "The present invention relates to graphic or informational articles that may be applied to a surface of a translucent or substantially clear substrate so that the image may be viewed through the substrate. The graphic articles of the present invention include a perforated imageable component and a non-perforated attachment component. The imageable component includes an opaque, perforated imageable film layer that accepts an image layer on its first major surface. On the second major surface of the imageable film layer, a perforated, opaque light absorbing film is applied." This patent describes the construction of a perforated printed film on which the printed image can be recognized when viewed on one side and is transparent when viewed from the opposite side. The film, however, is not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Patent Application 20050123707 published by Veck et al on Jun. 9, 2005 and titled "Method for printing unidirectional and see-through graphics" discloses, in the Abstract: "A convenient, time-efficient, easy-to-use method for creating a substrate covering comprising graphic images, such that the substrate covering can be substantially opaque to an observer looking from one side of the substrate (allowing him to see an image), yet the observer is able to see through the substrate covering from the other side of the substrate, or such that an observer would be able to see the images as well as objects beyond the substrate, comprising the steps of (1) creating an outline for the substrate covering; (2) creating at least one artwork; (3) launching a window wizard, which allows a user to select the position of the covering with respect to the substrate; at least one artwork; and at least one primer in accordance with the desired visual effects; (4) selecting the position of the covering with respect to the substrate; at least one artwork; and at least one primer in accordance with the desired visual effects; and (5) sending the window wizard output for printing onto a substantially clear laminate that could be applied to the substrate, wherein stacked layers of the selected artwork and selected primers are printed with perforations onto said laminate, wherein the perforations of the stacked layers are aligned." This patent describes the construction of unidirectional and see-through laminate, such as window coverings, that can be printed with perforations. The laminate, however, are not illuminated through light extracted from a light guide.
U.S. Patent Application 2005/0146866 published by Waters on Jul. 7, 2005 and titled "Lighting device" discloses, in the Abstract: "Lighted reading glasses are provided to enable clear reading of normal sized text to occur when the reading material is held at usual distances from the reader in dimly lit or dark locations. The lighted glasses have high intensity lights, such as in the form of LEDs that generate narrow light beam cones and which are oriented via light mounts as by inward canting of the light beam cones to meet and overlap so high brightness light is generated in a conical overlap area of light which is maximized in size in the range of normal reading distances. The light mounts include housings that are very compactly sized via the use of small coin cell batteries for powering the LEDs they hold. The housings are tapered from their maximum width sized to be slightly larger than the diameter of the disc-shaped cell batteries to either end thereof along their length, and have a depth sized to accommodate two of the stacked very thin, e.g., one-eighth of an inch each, coin cell batteries. In this manner, a very small and compact light module is provided that, while especially well-suited for reading glasses due to the preferred inward cant provided by light mounting surfaces of the housing to tailor the location of the overlap lighted area to the reading area, can also be used with other types of head gear, such as caps or other types of hats." This patent describes lighting modules attached to the temple arms of eyeglasses to provide directed bright light for reading in dimly lit areas. The lenses of the eyeglasses, however, do not emit any light.
British Patent 2411009 issued to Paton on Aug. 17, 2005 and titled "Eyewear with one or more light emitting diodes" discloses, in the Abstract: "Illuminated spectacles 10 comprising a frame (12) for retaining one or more lenses (22 and 24) and at least one light source 54, 56, 58 associated the frame (12), the light source being arranged to illuminate an area in front of the lens or lenses (22 and 24) and comprising one or more light emitting diodes 60 powered by one or more batteries and a switch (38) for selectively connecting and disconnecting the one or more light emitting diodes (60) from the one or more batteries. A jack or inductive coil 62 is preferably included for recharging the battery. Preferably contacts (50, 52 FIG. 2) within the arms 18, 20 conduct current to LEDs such that opening the arms 18, 20 automatically turns on the LEDs. A circuit is preferably provided for adjusting light intensity and monitoring battery charge." This patent describes a spectacle frame with LEDs to illuminate the area in front of the spectacle. The lenses of these spectacles, however, do not emit any light.

See-through one-way light-emitting light guide


Aspects of the invention are based on the discovery that cathode materials and lithium ion batteries comprising the cathode material, having improved thermal stability may be produced from a cathode material that is comprised of a mixture of a lithium metal oxide and a lithium metal phosphate wherein the lithium metal phosphate comprises a volume fraction of secondary particles having a size of 0.1 to 3 μm that is from 5 to 100%, based on the total content of lithium metal phosphate. More specifically cathodes comprising lithium metal phosphates having the recited secondary particle ranges help provide cathode materials that are capable of passing the nail penetration test without generating smoke or flames. Methods of forming the cathode and lithium ion battery comprising the cathode are also provided.

Lithium ion batteries have over the past couple of decades been used in portable electronic equipment and more recently in hybrid or electric vehicles. Initially, lithium ion batteries first employed lithium cobalt oxide cathodes. Due to expense, toxicological issues and limited energy capacity other cathode materials have or are being developed.
One class of materials that has been developed and has been commercially employed is lithium metal oxides comprised of two or more of nickel, manganese and cobalt. These materials generally display a layered structure with a singular rhombohedral phase in which initial high specific charge capacities (˜170 mAh/g) have been achieved when charged to voltages of about 4.2 volts vs Li/Li+. Unfortunately, these materials have suffered from a short cycle life and safety issues related to oxygen evolution under certain conditions resulting in fires.
Li/Li+ represents the redox potential of the lithium reference electrode, which is defined as 0 volts by convention. Consequently, when using an anode other than Li metal, these voltages would be decreased to account for the difference in potential between this other anode and Li metal. Illustratively, a fully charged graphite anode has a potential of about 0.1 V vs Li/Li+. Therefore, when charging the cathode in a battery with a graphite anode to 4.25 V vs Li/Li+, the cell voltage will be approximately 4.15 V.
The cycle life is generally taken as the number of cycles (charge-discharge) before reaching a specific capacity that is 80% of the initial specific capacity. Each cycle for these materials is typically between the aforementioned 4.2 volts to 2 volts. These batteries have also suffered from inconsistencies in performance from one battery or cell to another, even though made from the same materials.
To solve some of the problems, the art has described numerous coatings, dopants as well as blending of other more stable cathode materials such as lithium iron phosphate. Examples include those described in U.S. Pat. Publ. Nos. 2004/0005265; 2004/0096743; 2006/0194112; and 2009/0305132; WO patent appl. Nos. 2008/088180; 2008/091074; 2009/057834; and 2013/016426 and Japanese Pat. No. 9035715A1. Unfortunately, even though these may have improved the safety of LIBs containing the cathode materials comprised of lithium metal oxides containing nickel, manganese, cobalt or combination thereof, the cycle life, battery capacity, or capacity at high rates of discharge were not improved.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method for forming LIBs having cathodes comprised of lithium metal oxides of nickel, manganese, cobalt or combinations thereof that results in more consistent performance, improved cycle life and greater energy capacity retention at faster charge/discharge rates while also improving the safety of such LIBs.

Lithium ion battery having improved thermal stability


A broadband matching network for coupling a magnetic resonance probe to a preamplifier utilizes superconducting matching coils and superconducting locatable shields to detect very weak magnetic signals over a broad bandwidth. The superconducting matching coils and shields minimize signal loss in the matching amplifier. When used with a superconducting magnetic resonance probe, the circuit provides a significant broadening in bandwidth over that of the probe without loss of performance.

For certain applications, it is desirable to have a magnetic loop sensor, tuned by the addition of capacitance to resonate in the frequency range of 1-1000 MHz. In order to detect very weak magnetic fields such a sensor must generate extremely low levels of noise and consequently must have extremely low resistance and hence low loss. The lowest loss sensors are made of superconductor materials. Until recently, all superconductor materials had to be cooled below 30K to operate as superconductors. This requirement added significantly to the cost and complexity of systems which relied on these materials. The sensor design described here is one appropriate to high temperature superconductors, i.e., superconductor materials whose critical temperature is higher than 30K. This latter class of materials, also known as cuprates, oxide superconductors and perovskites, is better suited to use in thin film form than in bulk forms. This physico-chemical difference necessitates new device and circuit designs to make these materials useful in superconducting applications. The design can also be fabricated using conventional superconductors, like niobium, which are available in thin film form.
This invention consists of a multi-turn spiral coil (having inductance L) with an internal distributed interdigital capacitor (having capacitance C). The device operates in a self-resonant mode. For certain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications, resonant frequencies of approximately 5 MHz and sufficiently low resistance that the coil has a resonant quality factor (Q) of not less than 10.sup.4, and even as high as 10.sup.6, are desired. The low resistances implied by these high values of Q ensure that the coil's internally generated thermal noise will be less than the noise generated by other noise sources within the imaging system, such as the tissue or object being imaged or the preamplifier coupled to the coil. To achieve such high Q, it is necessary that the equivalent series resistance of the LC resonator be less that approximately 100 .mu..OMEGA. to 1 m.OMEGA.. Such low resistance is achieved by the use of superconducting thin-film metallization in both the coil and the capacitor. A key advantage of this approach is that the sensor can be produced with a single superconductive film, and as a result it is more easily and reproducibly manufactured.

Superconducting magnetic resonance probe coil


A method for detecting tumor tissue boundaries or a tumor stromal cell distribution range, more specifically, a diagnostic or non-diagnostic method for determining the boundaries of a tumor tissue; the boundaries of the tumor tissue are determined by means of determining the boundaries of the tumor stromal cells in the tumor tissue. The present method can more accurately determine the boundaries of tumor tissue, which serves to more accurately instruct the treatment of tumors, especially with respect to surgical treatment.

The main reason for the low 5-year survival rate of cancer patients is local invasion and distant metastasis of tumors. Tumor tissue includes not only tumor cells, but also a large number of tumor stroma and tumor stromal cells. A retrospective study of the incidence, clinical stage, and molecular characteristics of 282 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) by Marsh et al. showed that tumor stromal cells, rather than tumor cells, determined the length of lifetime of patients.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a detecting method as a diagnostic means by using the magnetic properties of an atomic nucleus containing an odd proton in vivo and applying a magnetic field for magnetization and vibration, and to generate a magnetic resonance signal, and then converting it into a frequency (spectrum) by a Fourier formula. The technology has been developed on the basis of conventional MRI technology and can reflect information on lesions in the body or in the human body at the molecular level.
However, due to the low accuracy, MRS technology has not been applied in clinical medicine. Accordingly, the present invention is an attempt to apply MRS technology to the detection of tumor distribution ranges and to develop a more accurate diagnostic method for determining tumor tissue boundaries.

Method for detecting tumor tissue boundaries or tumor stromal cell distribution range

SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE


A heat exchanger of a ventilating system, including heat exchange plates which are laminated at a predetermined interval and divide an outdoor air path through which outdoor air passes and an indoor air path through which indoor air passes, and a plurality of embossing protrusions which are formed on the outdoor air path divided by the heat exchange plates, for generating turbulence in the outdoor air which flows in the outdoor air path, can improve heat transfer performance by controlling development of a boundary layer by differentiating structure of the air flow of an air path through which indoor air passes and an air path through which outdoor air passes.

Generally, a ventilating system is a system for discharging polluted indoor air to the outdoor and sucking fresh outdoor air to the indoor, and the system includes an air cleaner for removing dust and foreign materials contained in the outdoor air, and a heat exchanger for transferring heat of the discharged indoor air to the sucked outdoor air.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional ventilating system.
The ventilating system includes a case 2 which is mounted on a wall for dividing indoor and outdoor, ventilating fans 4 and 6 which are mounted in the case 2, for ventilating air which is sucked and discharged, an air cleaner (not shown) which is installed in a portion to which the outdoor air inside the case 2 is sucked, for cleaning the outdoor air sucked to the indoor, and a heat exchanger 8 which is positioned inside the case 2, for performing a heat exchanging operation of indoor air discharged the outdoor and outdoor air sucked to the indoor.
Here, the case 2 is disposed in a hole formed on the wall for diving the indoor and outdoor, and accordingly, one side is positioned indoors and the other side is positioned outdoors. At this time, an outdoor suction hole 10 to which outdoor air is sucked and an indoor discharging hole 12 through which indoor air is discharged to the outdoor are respectively formed on the side wall of the case 2 positioned outdoors, and an indoor discharging hole 14 through which outdoor air is discharged to the indoor and an indoor suction hole 16 to which indoor air is sucked are respectively formed on the side wall of the case 2 positioned indoors.
The ventilating fans 4 and 6 includes a discharging ventilating fan 4 which is installed in a position connected with the outdoor discharging hole 12, for providing a ventilating pressure for discharging the indoor air to the outdoor, and a suction ventilating fan 6 which is installed in a position connected with the indoor discharging hole 14, for providing a ventilating pressure for sucking the outdoor air to the indoor.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional heat exchanger of a ventilating system, and FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view showing the conventional heat exchanger of a ventilating system.
The conventional heat exchanger 8 includes a plurality of base plates 20 which are laminated at a regular interval in a shape of a thin plate, first corrugation plates 22 which are respectively laminated in the spaces among the base plates 20, through which indoor air passes, and second corrugation plates 24 which are respectively laminated in the base plates 20 to be mutually at right angles to the first corrugation plates 22 in turn, through which outdoor air passes.
Here, the first and second corrugation plates 22 and 24 are curved in a triangular shape, and indoor and outdoor air passes to the inner and outer sides thereof, thus to mutually exchange heat.
Such heat exchanger 8 is formed in a rectangular shape by sequentially laminating the first corrugation plates 22, base plates 20, and second corrugation plates 24. The upper and lower surfaces of the heat exchanger 8 are respectively closed by the base plate 20, and the both side surfaces of the heat exchanger are connected with the outdoor suction hole 10 and indoor discharging hole 14, and outdoor air passes therethrough. Another both side surfaces of the heat exchanger are respectively connected with the outdoor discharging hole 12 and indoor suction hole 16, and indoor air passes therethrough.
That is, as the outdoor air which passes the first corrugation plates 22 and indoor air which passes the second corrugation plates 24 pass while being crossed with each other, heat exchange is performed by transferring heat of the indoor air through the base plates 20.
The operation of the conventional heat exchanger for the ventilating system with the above composition will be described as follows.
When the sucking ventilating fan 6 is driven, the outdoor air is sucked to the outdoor suction port 10 and is supplied to the indoor through the indoor discharging hole 14 by passing the first corrugation plate 22. When the discharging ventilating fan 4 is driven, the indoor air is sucked to the indoor suction hole 16 and discharged to the indoor through the outdoor discharging hole 12 by passing the second corrugation plate 24.
Here, as the outdoor air passing in the first corrugation plate 22 and indoor air passing the second corrugation plate 24 flow while being crossed with each other, heat in the indoor air is transferred to the outdoor air through the base plate 20, and the outdoor air which sucked the heat of the indoor air is supplied to the indoor.
As described above, since heat in the discharged indoor air is sucked to the outdoor air and discharged to the indoor, rapid temperature change of the indoor air can be prevented in case of operating ventilation.
However, in the conventional heat exchanger of the ventilating system, the first and second corrugation plates 22 and 24 are formed in a shape of a plate having a corrugation of a predetermined shape, and a boundary layer S is developed as the air flowing in the first and second corrugation plates moves along from the inlet side to the outlet side. Therefore, heat transfer efficiency is degraded and indoor temperature is rapidly changed in case of ventilating since the outdoor air sucked to the indoor could not absorb heat in the indoor air. Also, energy consumption for recovering the indoor air is increased and indoor air conditioning performance is degraded.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, particles of viscous air which flow inside a pipe of the first and second corrugation plates 22 and 24 stick on the surface contacted on a surface of the inside of the pipe when the viscous air flows on the surface of the inside of the pipe. As the air gets apart from the surface of the inside of the pipe, the air recovers the speed and gains a speed of a free flow in a position at a predetermined distance from the surface of the solid material. At this time, as the air is get apart from the surface of the inside of the pipe, a boundary layer S is formed.
As described above, as the air flowing on the surface of the inside of the pipe is processed, the boundary layer is developed and the air gets apart from the surface of the inside of the pipe, thus to degrade heat transfer efficiency that the heat of the indoor air is transferred to the outdoor air through the base plate 20.


A method and apparatus are provided for an embedded wireless interface that is embedded in, for example, one of an input and output controller device for controlling input and output communications with off-board devices, within a memory controller device and a processor motherboard. The embedded wireless interface may be utilized as a wireless test access point to provide signal stimulations for test purposes or to monitor communications over a specified wired communication link.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to computer system components, and more particularly, a system and method to wirelessly integrate computer system components, such as processors and chipsets, with both wireless and wired interconnects to support test operations.
2. Related Art
Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire lined communications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices. Such communication systems range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-home wireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, and hence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards, including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), and/or variations thereof.
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptop computer, home entertainment equipment, etc., communicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-point communications), the participating wireless communication devices tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system) and communicate over that channel(s). For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device communicates directly with an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or an associated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wireless network) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connection between the wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, via a public switched telephone network (PSTN), via the Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.
Each wireless communication device includes a built-in radio transceiver (i.e., receiver and transmitter) or is coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g., a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communication networks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the transmitter includes a data modulation stage, one or more intermediate frequency stages, and a power amplifier stage. The data modulation stage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordance with the particular wireless communication standard. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or more local oscillations to produce RF signals. The power amplifier stage amplifies the RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.
Wired Local Area Networks (wired LANs), e.g., Ethernets, support communications between networked computers and other devices within a serviced area. These wired LANs often link serviced devices to Wide Area Networks and the Internet. Each of these networks is generally considered a "wired" network, even though some of these networks, e.g., the PSTN, may include some transmission paths that are serviced by wireless links.
Wireless networks have come into existence more recently. Examples include cellular telephone networks, wireless LANs (WLANs), and satellite communication networks. Common forms of WLANs, such as IEEE 802.11(a) networks, IEEE 802.11(b) networks, and IEEE 802.11(g) networks, are referred to jointly as "IEEE 802.11 networks." In a typical IEEE 802.11 network, a wired backbone couples to a plurality of wireless Access Points (APs), each of which supports wireless communications with computers and other wireless terminals that include compatible wireless interfaces within a serviced area. The wired backbone couples the APs of the IEEE 802.11 network to other networks, both wired and wireless, and allows serviced wireless terminals to communicate with devices external to the IEEE 802.11 network. Devices that operate consistently with an IEEE 802.11 protocol may also support ad-hoc networking in which wireless terminals communicate directly to one another without the presence of an AP.
WLANs now also support voice communications via wireless voice terminals. In supporting the wireless voice terminals, the WLAN works in cooperation with a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) to interface the WLAN with the PSTN. A serviced call is routed between the PSTN and a serviced wireless voice terminal via the PBX and the WLAN. In addition to WLANs, personal area networks (PANs) are gaining in popularity. Initially conceived to reduce cabling between devices, PAN technologies, and more specifically, Bluetooth-based PANs or piconets, are adding yet another wireless layer to existing networks. For example, Bluetooth radios may be embedded in wireless headsets, printers, wireless keyboards, etc., to communicatively couple a peripheral device to a network component. For example, Bluetooth may be used to wirelessly couple a wireless headset to a handset that may be used in either a cellular network or merely in a PSTN based cordless phone.
Personal computers (PCs) and computer networks such as Local Area Networks (LANs) have become one of the most important devices for storing and sharing data in business. Thus, PCs and computer networks have become one of the most critical pieces of equipment in a business office. Computer networks typically have numerous personal computers and other data processing devices connected together for information exchange. At the heart of the computer network are one or more file servers. In most computer networks, file servers are more powerful versions of PCs which administer and store the documents generated by each of the personal computers in the system. In addition to managing the network, file servers also include the capability to monitor faults in themselves and the computer network. If a fault is detected, the file server provides a warning of the fault and, in certain instances, may also provide diagnostic operations, and may even implement corrective measures.
Servers are designed to provide client work stations with fast access to files and applications stored by the server. Accordingly, file servers embody a computer which responds to an operating system program (a popular operating system being, for example, WINDOWS®, or LINUX®) to not only orchestrate the files but also to maintain file security, file backup, or other file management features. Recently there has been a steady increase in the number of computer systems that are used in businesses, as well as the number of chipsets and peripherals associated with each computer system. The trend places one or more servers at each location of a business, rather than using a single mainframe computer at a centralized location. Typically, a company has an individual or department responsible for administering all of the file servers. In many instances, the administrator or administration department is headquartered at one site. Thus, each of the servers must be maintained and monitored remotely.
Monitoring may involve gathering and interpreting management, health and performance information about individual computer systems and file servers. Numerous monitoring systems are available to automatically alert designated persons when a computer system, file server or software application has failed. When such a failure occurs, the persons being notified may be in a remote location and may not be able to directly access the failed PC.
It is certainly beneficial to monitor certain server functions. Downtime caused by server failure may be the most costly expense incurred in running a distributed computer system. The causes of a server failure or "crash" are numerous. Any number of malfunctions or design flaws associated with the server hardware, server operating system or application programs running on a server may cause a server to crash. If a server crashes, then file access is often lost and business records are temporarily inaccessible until the cause of failure is fixed.
Typically, monitoring is achieved by interfacing via wired connects to monitoring hardware and sensors that gather management, health, and performance information on the computer system, with the operating system. To interface the monitoring hardware and sensors, users install and maintain complex drivers and programs to gather and interpret the management, health, and performance information. The burden of maintaining these drivers to support the monitoring hardware and sensors is often significant. In fact, this burden can be so great that users often choose not to install these management/monitoring functions in order to avoid this burden.
Companies often develop special proprietary hardware and drivers as part of management packages that gather and interpret management, health, and performance information from the monitoring hardware and sensors. This hardware requires ongoing support to ensure proper operation with new hardware platforms and operating systems. Additionally, "open source" operating systems, such as LINUX, require that the source code associated with drivers operating within the "open source" operating system be freely available and "open source" themselves. As companies have often spent significant resources developing the management hardware and software drivers to support the management hardware, the companies do not typically want to freely provide this proprietary source code.
One problem not adequately addressed in the prior art, however, is that gaining access to a particular communication path or circuit element may be technically challenging. For example, as integrated circuits and devices become increasingly more complex, input/output pins and ports become increasingly more in value. As such, a third party wanting access to a particular point may not be able to gain such access either in a technical sense, or in a political sense, in that the third party would have to convince the developer of the circuit to provide such access. Another problem not adequately addressed in the prior art relates to improving a number of communication paths in a very dense piece of silicon or semiconductor material used to create the integrated circuit. As such, routing signals from one end of an integrated circuit to another may become an expensive, or at least challenging, task. Finally, between two points on a motherboard or between two separate circuit boards, for example, a primary wired link may fail without providing any indication of the cause of the failure. Access to a failed device, however, is often necessary in today's world of companies providing assistance from a remote location. Thus, what is needed, is a system that creates the additional communication links and that provides access to a particular circuit element or device by test and/or monitoring equipment.

Computer chip set having on board wireless interfaces to support test operations


An information kit object that enables generic communication patterns among components of a modular computer system environment implementing an Information Kit (advanced publish-and-subscribe software bus). The information kit object contains an identifier of the type of data contained, the actual data, and a function associated with the data and/or object. The function may be a priority value that enables the information kit object to be arranged within a queue of the information kit and issued to requesting nodes in that order. The function may also be an indicator of a level of freshness for the information kit. Object. When an object is no longer at a desired level of freshness a refresh operation is triggered, which causes the publication of another information kit object to replace the previous one. A subscription object is also provided that includes the search query listing the data object of interest to the subscribing node.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to modular computer systems and specifically to inter-object communication for hardware and software modules in a modular computer system environment. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to effective, universal communication among different hardware and software modules within a publish/subscribe communication framework in a modular computer system environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The technology for implementing dynamic, modular computing environment is rapidly evolving. Modular computer systems comprise a number of independent modules that are connected to and communicate with other modules within the system via some point-to-point communication mechanism. Unlike large-scale distributed computer systems (e.g., the Internet), the modules are not independent processing systems or computing devices, but are rather software applications or code that perform specific functions within the overall system environment. Additionally, the hardware components of the modular computer systems may be simple hardware instrumentation that provides input data or serves as an output device.
Typically, the modular computer system is configured with the modules being local to a processor and connected to a single computer chassis. With this configuration, specific functions can be performed by the system based on the individual applications, and additional functions can be added to the system as required/desired. Those skilled in the art are familiar with such modular computer systems and their level of expandability and/or scalability.
One example of a modular computer system is the computer system designed for modern motor vehicles. Several different types of functions are provided by different instrumentation and/or software modules, including regulating temperature, tire pressure, exhaust/fuel emissions, providing emergency services, and other general safety features. These functions require some type of interaction (e.g., sharing of data) between hardware instrumentation and software application/modules. One quickly evolving and popular function is that of providing vehicle location and navigation functionality, such as is provided utilizing global positioning system (GPS) technology.
In both the distributed computing environment and the modular computing environment, it is essential that the different components be able to exchange data effectively. However, because of the above mentioned difficulties with the point-to-point connection model, there remains a lack of full integration among all modules and hence an inability to effectively manage communication among the increasingly integrated (modular) systems.
Irrespective of the use of the system, the various programming modules, whether actual computer devices, other input/output (I/O) hardware devices, or application code, need to communicate with each other and/or at least with the operating system in a language/form that is understandable to the communicating devices. Most conventional applications connect and communicate with other modules via a point-to-point connection architecture. With this point-to-point architecture, each application has a unique set of parameters, values and formats for communicating with one of the other modules in order to provide a particular service/function.
FIGS. 5A-5C provide three representations of modular computer system operation according to the prior art. As illustrated by FIG. 5A, modular computer system 500 comprises three hardware components, a GPS device 501, temperature reader 503, and generic other device 505. Each component has a point-to-point connection to one or more of the other components, as indicated by the direct wire connections. Also, each device has an associated (first-in first-out) FIFO queue, GPS queue 502, temp queue 504, and other queue 506. The queues serve to marshal request for respective data received from one or more modules, called MOD1 511, MOD2 513, X-STAR program 515, and MODN 517. Each module issues a request for a value provided by one or more of the hardware components. The requests are queued based on order of receipt and the return data provided in the queued order. FIGS. 5B and 5C respectively illustrate the modules sending a request to the queues of the GPS tracker 501 and temperature reader 503. Notably, only a single request can be handled at a time, and all other requests must wait in the queue until the previous request has been handled.
Developers and/or manufacturers of new applications for modular computer systems tend to develop each application/module with a specific set of communication protocols that enables the module to communicate with only specific ones of the other modules in the modular computer system. A new module is connected directly (point-to-point) with another module and may only be able to communicate with that other module among the multiple modules provided within the system. Because it is common for the different modules to be developed by different manufacturers/developers, it is also very common for each module to have a module-specific communication protocol that is not necessarily understood or easily adaptable to the other modules designed by other manufacturers and/or for other systems. That is, a software module designed to operate with a first GPS system may not be able to communicate directly with a second, different GPS system that may be utilized in the same or other modular computer system.
To overcome this limitation (i.e., incompatibility among modules), manufacturers often develop the new module and then create a separate application to enable their module to communicate within a particular system. These specialized applications may be required to link the new module to the existing ones. That is, a different application may be required for each additional system in which the module may be utilized. FIGS. 5B and 5C illustrate this implementation of separate inter-module communication applications. Mainly, MOD1 and MOD2 communicate with GPS tracker 501 via a first set of request and response pairs 521A, 521B and 523A, 523B. According to the illustration, each module has a unique method of communicating with GPS tracker 501. Similarly also, is the intercommunication between the modules and temperature reader 503. Specific application code/parameters for a second set of request and response pairs 531A, 531B and 533A, 533B are provided, which may be different from those used for communicating with GPS tracker 501.
While the above methods have enabled and fostered the implementation of systems in which independently developed applications can operate and communicate within the same system. These objects can only be integrated within the system by writing specific code to tie independently developed applications together. This method is rather tedious and costly for very complex systems comprising a large number of interconnected devices and applications.
Many systems today utilize a listener pattern for integration. The listener pattern allows for objects to register interest in receiving events relevant to another object. The listener pattern requires compile time interface coupling between the event source and listeners, and the listener pattern is sensitive to bugs within the listeners. Further, utilizing the listener pattern has several additional drawbacks. Key among these drawbacks is that if the listener pattern is coded without a notification thread and queue, then each listener has the opportunity to sabotage the thread that is performing the notification by taking to long to return from the notification call. This means that to ensure that the lower level buffers are not overrun, each listener must not only be logically correct, but must also be temporally correct.
In the automobile computing environment, for example, there are several problems with conventional implementation of modular computer systems that utilize the listener pattern makes it difficult for connecting the individual application modules together. With the listener pattern, if five different applications require access to a parameter value, such as the GPS position, each application had to independently listen to the GPS device. Several problems are seen with this model. First, the modules require a point-to-point configuration. Second, only very basic (wildcard type) requests can be submitted, and matching just the basic request automatically returns the data without the ability to target specific characteristics within the system. Third, as with the example above, the applications have a compile time dependency on the GPS code.
Given the above limitations of the listener pattern and other complexities with effective inter-communication among individual application modules in a modular computer system, it would be desirable to provide a method and system that enables efficient inter-communication among the various application modules in a modular computer system environment that was more robust and comprehensive than the listener pattern. It would further be desirable if such a system enabled all modules to have equal, concurrent access to all published data of relevance within the system. A method and system that provides intercommunication among all components within an expandable modular environment utilizing without requiring special integration code for each application would be a welcomed improvement. These and other benefits are provided by the invention described herein.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Information kit objects for publish/subscribe integration architecture

International Business Machines Corporation