Author: claimsbot

1. A pressure brace adapted to brace a handle of a gas pump, comprising:
a cylindrical, hollow housing comprising an upper end, an upper notch adjacent the upper end, and a lower receptacle;
a depressible plunger extending from the upper end of the housing and slidable within the housing, the depressible plunger comprising a groove and a pressable tab on a first end and further comprising a projection between the first end and a second end of the plunger;
an end cap removably coupled in to the lower receptacle;
a prop between the end cap and the depressible plunger; and
a spring within the housing biased between the prop and the plunger to push the depressible plunger outward from the housing,
wherein:
when the plunger is depressed, the spring is compressed against the prop, and the projection and the notch form an open latching mechanism, and
when the plunger is not depressed, the projection forms a closed latching mechanism.
2. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the depressible plunger maintains the alignment of the latching mechanism by a tongue on the depressible plunger that aligns with at least one groove provided on the interior of the housing.
3. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein:
the interior housing walls comprise at least one lip;
the depressible plunger comprises a projecting stay; and
the depressible plunger maintains its placement within the housing by abutting the projecting stay against the at least one lip.
4. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the sizing and alignment of the projection of the depressible plunger and the housing notch are configured to selectively engage and disengage a key ring.
5. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the end cap is configured to removably store items within the housing.
6. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the groove is an ergonomic dimple such that the dimple aligns with a curvature of a gas pump handle squeeze grip when the pressure brace is installed against a gas pump handle.
7. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises a removable insert between the end cap and the prop.
8. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the prop is a circumferential stand.
9. The pressure brace of claim 8, wherein the prop comprises a conical or cylindrical extension and the spring surrounds at least a portion of the conical or cylindrical extension.
10. A pill case pressure brace adapted to brace a handle of a gas pump, comprising:
a cylindrical, hollow housing comprising a plurality of interior surfaces;
a depressible plunger extending from a first end of the housing, the depressible plunger comprising at least one projecting stay;
a removable end cap within a second, opposite end of the housing, the end cap comprising a pill storage space and a circumferential lip; and
a spring within the housing between the circumferential lip and the plunger, the spring configured to push the depressible plunger outward,
wherein:
at least a portion of the plurality of the interior surfaces form a lip, and the at least one projecting stay is configured to selectively push against the lip, and
the at least one projecting stay is configured to travel away from the lip when the depressible plunger is pressed.
11. The pill case pressure brace of claim 10, wherein the housing further comprises a notch, and wherein the notch and the projecting stay cooperate to provide a keychain attachment mechanism.
12. The pill case pressure brace of claim 10, wherein the housing has a notch and the depressible plunger has a projection, wherein the projection is movable with respect to the notch so as to block and unblock at least a portion of the notch.
13. The pill case pressure brace of claim 10, wherein the end cap comprises a transparent material.
14. The pill case pressure brace of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the end cap couples to the opposite end of the housing by way of threading.
15. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the end cap comprises a transparent material.
16. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the end cap couples in to the lower receptacle of the housing by way of threading.
17. The pressure brace of claim 1, further comprising a storage space between the prop and the end cap.
18. The pressure brace of claim 1, wherein the end cap comprises a thumb catch.
19. The pill case pressure brace of claim 10, wherein the end cap comprises a thumb catch.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. An energy conversion device comprising: at least a pair of electrodes at least one of which contains a capacitor material; and an electrolyte having ion conductivity and electron insulation, the energy conversion device using an electric double layer formed at an interface between the capacitor material and the electrolyte to store energy, wherein
a layer of the capacitor material is formed to be closer to a collector terminal than an active material layer of each of the electrodes such that an electronic resistance A between the collector terminal and a center of gravity of the capacitor material layer in the electrode is lower than an electronic resistance B between the collector terminal and a center of gravity of a surface of the active material layer of the electrode.
2. The energy conversion device of claim 1, wherein the pair of electrodes are composed of a positive electrode containing lead dioxide as a main active material and a negative electrode containing metallic lead as a main active material.
3. The energy conversion device of claim 1, wherein the pair of electrodes are composed of a positive electrode and a negative electrode each capable of occlusion and desorption of a lithium ion, and the electrolyte contains a lithium salt or a lithium compound.
4. The energy conversion device of claim 1, wherein the pair of electrodes is composed of a positive electrode containing nickel hydroxide as a main active material and a negative electrode containing a hydrogen-occulated alloy as a main active material, and the electrolyte contains a hydroxide ion.
5. The energy conversion device of claim 1, wherein the capacitor material is activated carbon.
6. An energy conversion device comprising: at least a pair of electrodes at least one of which contains a capacitor material; and an electrolyte having ion conductivity and electron insulation, the energy conversion device using an electric double layer formed at an interface between the capacitor material and the electrolyte to store energy, wherein
a layer of the capacitor material is formed on the electrode such that an electronic resistance A between a collector terminal and a center of gravity of a portion of the electrode on which the capacitor material layer is formed is lower than an electronic resistance B between the collector terminal and a center of gravity of an active material layer of each of the electrodes.
7. An energy conversion device comprising: at least a pair of electrodes at least one of which contains a capacitor material; and an electrolyte having ion conductivity and electron insulation, the energy conversion device using an electric double layer formed at an interface between the capacitor material and the electrolyte to store energy, wherein
a portion A and a portion B are formed in the electrode such that an electronic resistance between a collector terminal, and a center of gravity of the corresponding one of the portions is lower in the portion A than in the portion B and the capacitor material is disposed to have a concentration per unit area or per unit volume which is higher in the portion A than in the portion B (where the concentration of the capacitor material in the portion B includes zero).
8. The energy conversion device of claim 7, wherein a distance between the collector terminal and the portion A in which the capacitor material is disposed to have a higher concentration is shorter than a distance between the collector terminal and the portion B in which the capacitor material is disposed to have a lower concentration.
9. The energy conversion device of claim 7, wherein the portion A is disposed within the electrode and the portion B is disposed in the vicinity of a surface of the electrode.

1. Apparatus for producing entangled photon pairs, said apparatus including:
a pump laser source producing a pump beam, the pump beam entering means for splitting the pump beam into a first and a second beams having orthogonal polarization states,
the first and the second beams being transmitted in an optical fiber loop in counter-propagating directions; the beams generating a nonlinear interaction in the optical fiber; and
the first and the second beams being combined together producing an output pair of entangled photons; wherein a splitting ratio of the pump beam determines the type of output photon entanglement.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the type of the output photon entanglement is selected from correlated photons, maximally entangled photons, or non-maximally entangled photons.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for splitting the pump beam include a polarization beam splitting cube.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the splitting ratio of the pump beam is controllable.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a phase shifter controlling the splitting ratio of the pump beam.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a polarization controller, wherein the polarization controller changes the pump beam polarization prior to the means for splitting the pump beam into orthogonal polarization states, thereby changing the splitting ratio of the pump beam.
7. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a monitor unit for monitoring the splitting ratio.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a control unit allowing the splitting ratio to be set to a desired value.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the monitor unit is an optical tap inside the optical fiber loop leading to an optical-to-electrical detector for monitoring the splitting ratio; and the optical-to-electrical detector is connected to the control unit.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, including an alignment light source of controllable intensity that is injected into the fiber loop, and wherein the resulting output is a polarized optical signal at a wavelength including the wavelengths of the entangled photon pairs.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein injecting alignment light into two or more different alignment injection ports creates two or more different output polarizations.
12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the alignment light source is a broad band source.
13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein an alignment source beam is injected into the fiber loop, and wherein the alignment source intensity is modulated to be on for a portion of the time and off other times.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the pump intensity is modulated to be at two intensity levels, a high level and a low level, wherein the high pump level is used for aligning subsequent polarization analyzers and the low pump level is used to produce entangled light.
15. Method for producing entangled photon pairs, comprising:
producing a pump laser beam;
splitting the pump beam into a clockwise and a counter-clockwise propagating beams of a Sagnac fiber loop containing a nonlinear optical fiber;
controlling the splitting ratio of the beam;
outputting an entangled photon pairs from the loop, wherein the type of entanglement is determined by the splitting ratio.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the type of the output photon entanglement is selected from correlated photons, maximally entangled photons, or non-maximally entangled photons by changing the splitting ratio.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the pump beam intensity is variable.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:
injecting one or more alignment beams into the Sagnac loop into one or more alignment injection ports to produce one or more polarized output beams; the alignment source intensity into any of the ports being either on or off;
using the alignment beam for aligning subsequent polarization analyzers;
turning off the alignment beam and using the pump beam to produce entangled photons.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the alignment beam can be injected into the Sagnac loop at two different ports, and wherein the output alignment signal polarization generated from the alignment beam when it is injected into one port is neither the same as nor orthogonal to the output alignment signal polarization generated when the alignment beam is injected into the other port.
20. The method of claim 18, further comprising injecting alignment signals into the two injection ports sequentially to produce two distinct output polarizations which can be used to completely specify the polarization transformation required at the polarization analyzer.
21. Method for producing entangled photon pairs, comprising:
splitting a pump laser beam into two modes with a mode splitter, each mode generating signal and idler wavelengths in a nonlinear optical fiber,
recombining the two modes to create the output entangled signal and idler photon pairs;
and generating a broad spectrum of alignment photons of optical wavelengths including the wavelengths of the signal and idler;
using the resulting output alignment light that is polarized with a fixed relationship to the two pump modes for aligning subsequent polarization measurement apparatuses;
outputting entangled signal and idler photon pairs.
22. The method of claim 21, further comprising the ability to inject the alignment source into two different alignment ports where injecting into each port creates a distinct output alignment signal, and using the two output alignment signals to align any downstream measurement apparatuses.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising time multiplexing the alignment signals with entangled light signals so that the measurement apparatus can continually be aligned to measure the entangled light.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for transmitting packet types of packets, the method comprising:
receiving a packet having symbols;
identifying a packet type of the packet;
transmitting a synchronization symbol that corresponds to the identified packet type, wherein the transmitted synchronization symbol provides synchronization information and wherein each packet type has a different synchronization symbol, and the synchronization symbol permitting an external receiving node to properly align with a synchronization primitive to be correctly aligned on a symbol boundary; and
transmitting the symbols of the received packet.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the symbols of the packet include in-band symbols and the synchronization symbols are out-of-band symbols.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the in-band symbols are transition optimized and the out-of-band synchronization symbols are not transition optimized.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the synchronization symbol is transmitted before transmitting the symbols of the packet.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the packet has a header with a field that indicates packet type and the identifying of the packet type includes checking the field of the header that indicates packet type.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the packet types include a data packet.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the packet types include a control packet.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the symbols are transmitted to a switch network.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the synchronization primitive is made up of a sequence of bit-string synchronization symbols.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein:
multiple primitives are defined to operate as synchronization signals, and the use of multiple synchronization primitives allows for encoding packet type within a synchronization primitive;
the transmitting periodically transmits synchronization primitives so that a receiving communications node can properly align with that synchronization primitive; and
when a communications node receives a synchronization primitive it knows that the synchronization primitive is correctly aligned on a symbol boundary.
11. A method for identifying packet types of packets of symbols, the method comprising:
receiving a synchronization symbol by a receiver indicating a packet type, each packet type having a different synchronization symbol;
receiving a packet of symbols;
indicating that the received packet of symbols has the packet type of the received synchronization symbol; and
the synchronization symbol permitting properly alignment upon receiving with a synchronization primitive to be correctly aligned on a symbol boundary.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the symbols of the packets include in-band symbols and the synchronization symbols are out-of-band symbols.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the in-band symbols are transition optimized and the out-of-band synchronization symbols are not transition optimized.
14. The method of claim 11 wherein the synchronization symbol is received before the symbols of the packet are received.
15. The method of claim 11 wherein the packet types include a data packet.
16. The method of claim 11 wherein the packet types include a control packet.
17. The method of claim 11 wherein the symbols are received from a switch.
18. The method of claim 11 wherein the synchronization primitive is made up of a sequence of bit-string synchronization symbols.
19. A communications device for transmitting packet types of packets, comprising:
an identification component that identifies a packet type of a packet of symbols; and
a transmission component that transmits a synchronization symbol that corresponds to the identified packet type, the transmitted synchronization symbol providing synchronization information and each packet type having a different synchronization symbol and permitting an external receiving node to properly align with a synchronization primitive to be correctly aligned on a symbol boundary, and that transmits the symbols of the packet.
20. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the symbols of the packet include in-band symbols and the synchronization symbols are out-of-band symbols.
21. The communications device of claim 20 wherein the in-band symbols are transition optimized and the out-of-band synchronization symbols are not transition optimized.
22. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the synchronization symbol is transmitted before transmitting the symbols of the packet.
23. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the packet has a header with a field that indicates packet type and the identification component checks the field of the header that indicates packet type.
24. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the packet types include a data packet.
25. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the packet types include a control packet.
26. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the symbols are transmitted to a switch network.
27. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the communications device is part of a storage area network.
28. The communications device of claim 19 wherein the synchronization primitive is made up of a sequence of bit-string synchronization symbols.