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Jack Pevenstein
Technology Partnership Office
301-975-5519
nisttech@nist.gov
100 Bureau Drive, M/S 2200
Gaithersburg, MD, 20899
Refreshable Braille Reader: Patent 6,776,619
Apparatus and method for refreshable tactile display are disclosed, the apparatus being preferably embodied as a rotating-wheel refreshable Braille reader. The reader includes a housing having a reading aperture with a rotatable wheel assembly maintained therein so that a display surface of a rotating wheel passes the reading aperture. The wheel has endless rows of openings defined therethrough to the display surface, a pin held in each opening and freely movable therein. Actuators, at least equal in number to the rows of openings but substantially fewer in number than the openings, are held at a static location relative to the wheel for selectively moving pins in the rows so that Braille characters are arrayed at the display surface after passing the static location. Braille characters are thus streamed across the reading aperture of the housing.
Apparatus and Method Utilizing Bi-directional Relative Movement for Refreshable Tactile Display: Patent # 6,692,255
A refreshable Braille reader apparatus and method are disclosed, the apparatus preferably utilizing a rotating cylinder having endless rows of openings defined there through to a display surface with a pin held in each opening and freely movable therein. Static actuators at least equal in number to the rows of openings through the cylinder are maintained at a station adjacent to the surface of the cylinder, and are configured and positioned so that the pins are selectively contactable at either of their ends by different ones of the actuators during cylinder rotation in either forward or reverse direction thereby selectively placing first ends of the pins relative to the surface of the cylinder to allow streaming of Braille text across a display area in either forward or backward order depending upon selected direction of cylinder rotation.
Apparatus and methods for extended refreshable tactile graphic display are disclosed, the apparatus including an array of pins at a display surface, with pin setting actuators and display surface matrix preferably being separable units. The display matrix is provided by stacked functional layers, functions including temporary pin retention and pin locking.
Pressure-based refreshable scanning tactile graphic display apparatus and methods are disclosed for localized sensory stimulation. The apparatus include a display array having stimulus points embedded in a matrix, an energy source applied at the stimulus points through a modulator, a control unit, and a position sensing and feedback unit or units (such as a mouse-type device or data glove, for example). The energy source is preferably stored and pressurized fluid with application to selected stimulus points (pins, for example) preferably directed at a microvalve array under the control of a computer-based control unit.
The present invention relates to a for a singular integral image deblurring comprising a direct procedure for classifying image smoothness and a class of fast, direct methods that recover fine-scale structure using Lipschitz (BESOV) space regularization, singular integrals, and the fast fourier transform.
The image restoration system and method of the present invention is applied to point spread functions p(x,y) which may be described in the Fourier domain as Ρ(.xi.,.eta.)=exp{-Σji=1 λi (Ξ2 +Η2)Βi }λi.gtoreq.0, 0<Βi<1, to improve noise performance and permit identification of fine detail. The novel method formulates the image restoration problem as a problem in the partial differential equations describing diffusion phenomena using a new type of a priori constraint. The restored image is obtained by minimizing a quadratic functional incorporating this new constraint. The solution of the minimization problem may be obtained directly by means of fast Fourier transform algorithms. The restoration method may be performed as a sequence of partial restorations as t↓0 wherein the partial restorations become sharper and noisier as t↓0, or as a single full restoration. The sequence of partial restorations may reveal features of the image before such features become obscured by noise and may permit adjustment of the parameters characterizing the blurring functions and constraints.
A workflow sequence specified by a process definition is managed by a workflow management system which enacts each segment in the order specified by that process definition. Role-based access control (RBAC) is used to define membership of individuals in groups, i.e., to assign individuals to roles, and to then activate the roles with respect to the process at appropriate points in the sequence. Any individual belonging to the active role can perform the next step in the business process. Changes in the duties and responsibilities of individuals as they change job assignments are greatly simplified, as their role memberships are simply reassigned; the workflow process is unaffected.
A system and method for time-stamping and signing a digital document by an authenticating party and returning the signed stamped document to the originator or his designated recipient. Messages may be received by a first "public" machine over a network, by fax, or through input mediums such as diskettes. The clock of the first machine is synchronized with Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) and can be checked for accuracy by anyone on the network. A second "private" machine, not connected to any network, receives the time-stamped message, applies a hashing procedure and provides a signature using a private key. The signed hashed time-stamped message is then returned. A verify procedure is made widely available to check the genuineness of a document by rehashing the document and applying a public key. The result should match the signed time-stamped message returned by the authenticating party.
Authentication refers to a mechanism for verifying the claimed identity presented to a computing system. This document describes a general-purpose mechanism for authenticating users through the selection of a sequence of images from a displayed assembly of images. While specifically aimed at hand-held devices, this visual login technique is suitable for most computing platforms that require user authentication. The invention is based on the capability of computer systems to display and manipulate individual thumbnail images via a graphical user display interface. Authentication using image selection is not an entirely new idea. However, the technique invented is an innovative and extremely powerful approach that takes image sequences selected by a user and formulates a password that is dependent on both the sequence and style of their selection. Moreover, to ease the users' burden of complying with organizational policy to change over passwords after some period of time, the invention allows the same image sequence to be used repeatedly in a password change dialogue, yet generate a completely different password value each time. The invention also introduces a new way of "salting" passwords to make them less vulnerable to attack, which can be readily incorporated into the password derivation process described, as an alternative to currently used techniques. These aspects of the invention overcome a number of problems with knowledge-based authentication and provide a means to attain improved security for computing systems.
A magnetoresistive sensing apparatus is disclosed, comprising a magnetic film having a zig-zag shaped structure, a central axis, and a magnetization associated with the magnetic film, wherein the zig-zag shaped structure biases the magnetization direction alternately at positive and negative angles thereof, thereby permitting the magnetoresistive sensing apparatus to be sensitive to a magnetic field parallel to the axis of the magnetoresistive sensing apparatus and insensitive to magnetic fields perpendicular to the axis.
The phase-sensitive amplifier implementing our chi(3) 4-wave mixing source would be an enabling technology for image processing. A number of efforts in the newly labeled field of "quantum imaging" allow for better detection sensitivity or better image resolution if one is able to apply "squeezed" light with a broad range of spatial modes and frequencies. Such nonclassical light (a quantum mechanical treatment of the electromagnetic field is required) has proved difficult to produce in the past. Our present source is competitive with, but not quite as good as, the best available chi(2)-based systems in the degree of squeezing we have obtained. On the other hand, it is clearly superior to them in its ability to produce squeezed light in many spatial modes of the field. It will allow "noiseless image amplification" and "super-resolution" techniques to be employed in applications well beyond what has been demonstrated with chi(2) media. It should have uses in microscopy and image recovery from weak image data. In addition, a diode-based source should demonstrate squeezing at very low detection frequencies. This should allow the production of a very stable interferometer using our 4-wave mixing source. Such an interferometer would be an excellent detector for highly sensitive chemical detection by photothermal spectroscopy.
A method of imaging critical dimensions by measuring the zeroeth order of diffracted light. The method involves providing a target, directing light onto the target so as to cause the target to diffract the light. The zeroeth order of the diffracted light is collected and analyzed to determine structural features of the target. The target can be an article of manufacture, such as a semiconductor device, or a separate target that is provided or fabricated on an article of manufacture. One of at least the wavelength and the angle at which the light is directed onto the target can be scanned. The target can fill all or only a portion of the field of view.
Attack graph is important in defending against we II-orchestrated network intrusions. However, the current analysis of attack graphs requires an algorithm to be developed and implemented, causing a delay in the availability of analysis. Such a delay is usually unacceptable because the needs for analyzing attack graphs may change rapidly in defending against network intrusions. An administrator may want to revise an analysis upon observing its outcome. Such an interactive analysis, similar to that in decision support systems, is difficult if at all possible with current approaches based on proprietary algorithms. This paper removes the above limitation and enables interactive analysis of attack graphs. We devise a relational model for representing necessary inputs including network configuration and domain knowledge. We generate the attack graph from those inputs as relational views. We then show that typical analysis of the attack graph can be realized as relational queries against the views. Our approach eliminates the needs for developing a proprietary algorithm for each different analysis, because an analysis is now simply a relational query. The interactive analysis of attack graphs is now possible, because relational queries can be dynamically constructed and revised at ru time. Moreover, the mature optimization techniques in relational databases can also improve the performance of the analysis.
Highly Charged Ion Modified Oxides (HCIMO) are achieved by irradiating a thin, high resistance oxide with highly charged ions (HCIs) and then depositing a conducting material of choice on top the irradiated oxide. The irradiation by HCIs preferentially ablates a region on the order of a cubic nanometer at each HCI’s impact site breaking a hole through the ultra-thin oxide. This is demonstrated by the inventors by preparing an insulating layer of aluminum oxide on a cobalt lower electrode layer, exposing the oxide to very dilute HCI radiation, and then depositing a cobalt upper layer. The data show a clear and systematic decrease in the resistance of the multilayer devices correlated to the HCI dose at very dilute doses, i.e., an HCI density of 100 HCIs/ìm2 (108 HCIs/mm2) yields a resistance reduction by a factor of greater than 100. The nanometer dimensions of individual HCI impacts and the precise control over the dose combine to allow high precision selection of the material’s resistance over a wide range of values, currently demonstrated over three orders of magnitude.
As HCI modification only occurs within a few nanometers of the surface and generally does not affect metals, no special measures are needed to protect surrounding device structures from HCI damage. Since the size of the material modification is determined by the properties of a single ion, precise alignment is not required, only uniform illumination of the device area by the HCI beam, greatly simplifying commercial integration of HCI irradiation.
We have further employed this strategy of producing an ensemble of small, discrete pockets of one material within another using HCIs to produce a new type of magnetic sensor. This approach may provide a solution to the current perpendicular to the plane (CPP) magnetic sensor resistance problem. In that problem, state-of-the-art CPP type magnetic sensors produced by using metal-metal interfaces or metal-insulator interfaces lead to resistances too low or too high, respectively, to be commercially viable. By using HCIMO as the buffer material instead of a metal (as in giant magneto-resistance [GMR] type sensors) or an insulator (magnetic tunnel junction [MTJ] type sensor) we can produce devices with the desired resistance values needed for advanced magnetic sensors for future hard drive read heads.
By using HCIMO as the buffer layer in a magnetic multilayer structure, we are creating a new type of sensor that uses a superposition of metal-insulator and metal-metal sensor junctions at a controlled density without advanced fabrication techniques. Magnetic sensitivity in this new type of device has also been demonstrated with evidence that both the metal-insulator and metal-metal parts of the HCIMO type sensors produce a clearly measurable response to small external magnetic fields.
Protection of enterprise resources in today's access control paradigm requires the deployment of a multitude of access control mechanisms implemented at both the operating system and application levels. These mechanisms come in a wide variety of forms each with their individual methods for authenticating users, configuring security policies, computing access control decisions, and enforcing these policies. A characteristic of dispersed heterogeneous access control mechanisms is a lack of interoperability that consequently results in a host of identity and privilege management issues. However, solving the interoperability problem alone is not sufficient in curing the problems of the existing access control paradigm. While there exists a diverse set of known access control policies, only a small subset of these policies is enforceable through existing mechanisms. In addition, policies independently implemented within applications can easily undermine one another as well as those implemented at the operating system level. To streamline identity and privilege management operations and provide comprehensive and flexible security policy enforcement, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) has developed a standards-driven framework, called the Policy Machine, for the specification and enforcement of access control that can be adopted by future versions of operating systems and serve as a basis for the development of truly secure applications.
When the range of single-hop wireless communication is limited by distance or harsh radio propagation conditions, relays can be used to extend the communication range through multi-hop relaying. This paper targets the need in certain scenarios for rapid deployment of these relays when little or nothing is known in advance about a given environment and its propagation characteristics. Applications include first responders entering a large building during an emergency, search and rescue robots maneuvering a disaster sight, and coal miners working underground. The common element motivating this work is the need to maintain communications in an environment where single-hop communication is typically inadequate. This paper investigates the feasibility of the automated deployment of a multi-hop network. A deployment procedure is proposed that employs real-time link measurements and takes into account the physical layer characteristics of a mobile multi-path fading environment and the radio in use. A prototype system is implemented based on 900 MHz TinyOS motes supporting low-speed data applications including text messaging, sensor data and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-assisted localization. Results of deployments in a hi-rise office building are presented.
Embodiments of the present invention provide an inexpensive and fast pulse characterization platform capable of real time operation, suitable for acquisition of single-photon data. Embodiments of the present invention include both a digital multi-channel data acquisition instrument and an analog pulse acquisition instrument suitable for a wide range of applications in physics laboratories. An FPGA performs multi-channel acquisition in real time, time stamps single events and determines if the events fit a predetermined signature, which causes the events to be categorized as a coincidence. The indications of coincidences are then communicated to a host computer for further processing as desired.
Superconformat Metal Deposition Using Derivitized Substrates: Docket # 02-011
The process of this invention involves first adsorbing a catalyst on the surface of a specimen by immersion in a catalyst-containing solution, followed by electrolytic deposition in a second solution that need not contain catalyst. This two-step superconformal process produces a seam-free and void-free metal microelectronic conductor.
Towards Industrial Scale-Fabrication of Nanowire-Based Devices: Docket # 08-001
The invention deals with the challenge of void-free filling of recessed surface features on non-planar metalized surfaces with iron group magnetic materials. Specifically, the addition of certain benzimidazole derivatives to a conventional additive-free nickel plating baths, e.g. Watts bath NiS04-NiCli, results in a superconformal deposition growth mode. By superconformal deposition we mean that metal deposition occurs preferentially in recessed surface features, such as patterned trenches and vias, thereby resulting in void-free filling. By appropriate patterning and design a variety of fully consolidated 3-D shapes and geometries can be fabricated. The resulting structures have potential use as micromagnets for microelectromechanical devices as well as active magnetic material components for use in a variety of information storage devices. The process may also be useful in the deposition of Ni and related metals as a precursor to forming silcide contacts in microelectronics.
We report the fabrication and characterization of a two-terminal rewriteable nonvolatile flexible memory device that consists of a titanium dioxide layer, formed by using a room-temperature processed sol gel, with aluminum contacts on an inexpensive commercially-available flexible polymer sheet (an overhead transparency). This device shows a nonvolatile memory behavior with on/off ratios up to 1000:1, which can be cycled between write, read, and erase states by applying voltages with magnitudes of less than 10 V. The devices have the potential to meet the needs of flexible, rewritable memory while providing the advantages of simplified room temperature fabrication and relatively low drive voltage operation.
Pervasive devices, sensors, and networks, provide infrastructure for context-aware smart meeting rooms that sense ongoing human activities and respond to them. These technologies require advances in areas including networking, distributed computing, sensor data acquisition, signal processing, speech recognition, human identification, and natural language processing. Open interoperability and metrology standards for the sensor and recognition technologies can aid research and development programs in making these advances. To address this need the NIST Smart Space and Meeting Recognition projects are developing tools for data formats, transport, distributed processing, and metadata. We are using them to create annotated multimodal research corpora and measurement algorithms for smart meeting rooms, which we are making available to interested members of the research and development community.
Apparatus and Method Utilizing Bi-directional Relative Movement for Refreshable Tactile Display: Patent # 6,692,255
A refreshable Braille reader apparatus and method are disclosed, the apparatus preferably utilizing a rotating cylinder having endless rows of openings defined there through to a display surface with a pin held in each opening and freely movable therein. Static actuators at least equal in number to the rows of openings through the cylinder are maintained at a station adjacent to the surface of the cylinder, and are configured and positioned so that the pins are selectively contactable at either of their ends by different ones of the actuators during cylinder rotation in either forward or reverse direction thereby selectively placing first ends of the pins relative to the surface of the cylinder to allow streaming of Braille text across a display area in either forward or backward order depending upon selected direction of cylinder rotation.