Author: claimsbot

1. A cooking appliance, comprising:
a housing comprising a cooking chamber;
a burner disposed outside the housing;
a communication hole at the housing allowing air, heated by the burner, to pass therethrough; and
a heated air guider coupled to the interior of the housing,
wherein the heated air guider comprises at least one discharge hole through which heated air is discharged into the cooking chamber and which prevents the communication hole from being exposed to the cooking chamber.
2. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the communication hole is located on a base of the housing, and
the heated air guider contacts the base.
3. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the communication hole is located on a rear wall of the housing, and
the heated air guider is coupled to the rear wall of the housing.
4. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein a fan, located within the heated air guider, discharges the heated air into the cooking chamber.
5. The cooking appliance of claim 4, wherein the fan comprises a cross flow fan.
6. The cooking appliance of claim 5, wherein the cross flow fan is horizontally disposed within the heated air guider.
7. The cooking appliance of claim 4, wherein the heated air guider comprises:
a first body having a first discharge hole; and
a second body extending from the first body, the second body having a second discharge hole,
wherein the second body covers the communication hole.
8. The cooking appliance of claim 7, wherein the fan is located where the first body and the second body are connected to each other or on the second body.
9. The cooking appliance of claim 7, wherein the fan is located at an upstream side of the first discharge hole or a downstream side of the second discharge hole.
10. The cooking appliance of claim 4, wherein the first body has a closed loop shape with a central hole, and
the first discharge hole is defined around the first body.
11. The cooking appliance of claim 10, wherein the first discharge hole is defined in an area that rotates an angle of about 270\xb0 with respect to a center of the first body.
12. The cooking appliance of claim 4, further comprising:
an input part to indicate a cooking mode;
a fan motor to rotate the fan; and
a control part to control the fan motor according to the cooking mode indicated by the input part,
wherein the cooking mode comprises a first mode and a second mode, and
wherein the control part operates the fan motor to discharge heated air into the cooking chamber by the fan when the first mode is selected and stops the operation of the fan motor to discharge heated air into the cooking chamber by natural convection when the second mode is selected.
13. The cooking appliance of claim 1, wherein the burner comprises:
a supply part extending in a direction away from the heated air guider; and
a combustion part bent from the supply part, the combustion part having a plurality of flame holes.
14. The cooking appliance of claim 13, wherein the heated air guider is coupled to a rear wall of the housing,
the supply part extends in a frontrear direction of the housing, and
the combustion part extends in a leftright direction of the housing.
15. A cooking appliance, comprising:
a housing comprising a cooking chamber;
a burner disposed outside the housing;
a communication hole at the housing allowing the cooking chamber to communicate with a space in which the burner is disposed; and
a heated air guider disposed within the housing to discharge air passing through the communication hole into the cooking chamber,
wherein the communication hole is covered by the heated air guider.
16. The cooking appliance of claim 15, wherein a fan is located within the heated air guider.
17. The cooking appliance of claim 16, wherein the heated air guider comprises:
a second discharge hole on an upstream side of the fan; and
a first discharge hole on a downstream side of the fan.
18. The cooking appliance of claim 17, wherein the heated air guider comprises a first body having a heated air passage through which heated air flows,
the heated air passage is rounded, and
the first discharge hole is defined along a circumference of the first body.
19. The cooking appliance of claim 18, further comprising:
a second body in which the second discharge hole is located,
wherein the second body extends from the first body.
20. The cooking appliance of claim 15, wherein the communication hole is located on a base of the housing, and
the heated air guider contacts the base.

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 fiber optic gyroscope in which light from a light source is entered through an optical fiber and a fiber optic coupler into a substrate type optical integrated circuit having a function of a polarizer and a branching optical waveguide, light waves branched in the optical integrated circuit are entered into both ends of a fiber optic coil as a clockwise light and a counterclockwise light respectively, the clockwise light and the counterclockwise light having propagated through the fiber optic coil are coupled to each other in the optical integrated circuit thereby to interfere both light waves with each other, the interference light is entered into a photodetector through the fiber optic coupler to convert the intensity thereof to an electric signal, and an angular velocity applied to the fiber optic coil about the axis thereof is detected from the electric signal, said fiber optic gyroscope comprising:
a polarization maintaining optical fiber having its length L connected to an inputoutput end of the optical integrated circuit nearer the light source in an optical system of optical fiber from the light source to the optical integrated circuit, said polarization maintaining optical fiber of its length L resulting in a difference in group delay time between the orthogonal two polarization modes and said difference at least exceeding a coherence length of light from the light source;
an optical system of optical fiber from the light source to the optical integrated circuit except for the polarization maintaining optical fiber of its length L, that is constructed by a single mode optical fiber; and
the fiber optic coupler that is constructed by a single mode optical fiber.
2. The fiber optic gyroscope as set forth in claim 1, wherein the branching optical waveguide of the optical integrated circuit and the polarization maintaining optical fiber of its length L are connected with each other in the state that the branching optical waveguide and the polarization maintaining optical fiber of its length L are aligned with each other so that the TM mode axis of the branching optical waveguide coincides with the slow axis of the polarization maintaining optical fiber of its length L.
3. The fiber optic gyroscope as set forth in claim 1, wherein the fiber optic coil is constructed by a single mode optical fiber, a first and a second polarization maintaining optical fibers are connected to both ends of the coil respectively, the two polarization maintaining optical fibers are connected to the branching optical waveguide of the optical integrated circuit in the axis rotation method in the state that the polarization axis of each polarization maintaining optical fiber and the polarization axis of the corresponding branching optical waveguide are placed at an angle of 45 degrees, the first polarization maintaining optical fiber has its length at least longer than 2L, and the second polarization maintaining optical fiber has its length at least longer than 4L.
4. The fiber optic gyroscope as set forth in claim 2, wherein the fiber optic coil is constructed by a single mode optical fiber, a first and a second polarization maintaining optical fibers are connected to both ends of the coil respectively, the two polarization maintaining optical fibers are connected to the branching optical waveguide of the optical integrated circuit in the axis rotation method in the state that the polarization axis of each polarization maintaining optical fiber and the polarization axis of the corresponding branching optical waveguide are placed at an angle of 45 degrees, the first polarization maintaining optical fiber has its length at least longer than 2L, and the second polarization maintaining optical fiber has its length at least longer than 4L.

1. A method for interrogating objects to be identified over a communication medium, wherein the objects provide predetermined responses indicative of object identification numbers and each include a counter, the method comprising the steps of:
sending interrogation signals to and receiving responses from the objects over the communication medium, the interrogation signals operating to interrogate a single digit from the objects to be identified;
recording incomplete identification numbers whenever two or more predetermined responses are received from the objects;
retrieving incomplete identification numbers whenever two or more predetermined responses are received from the objects;
sending a signal to the objects to cause the objects to selectively add a number to their respective counter, wherein the number is determined by each object and is dependent upon one or more previous responses of the object to interrogation signals;
sending a signal to the objects to cause the objects to selectively subtract a number from their respective counter, wherein the number is determined by each object and is dependent upon one or more previous responses of the object to the interrogation signals; and
recording complete identification numbers as they are determined.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the objects are identified based on a depth-first tree traversal algorithm.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein a speed for determining the identification numbers is deterministic given a set of objects to have their identification numbers determined.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein, in response to interrogation of a signal digit from the objects, each object provides a response regardless of the value of the digit being interrogated.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel comprises a radio channel.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the objects each include an RFID transponder.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the counter is included in control circuitry for the RFID transponder.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel comprises a wired communication channel.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein values of the counters selectively inhibit objects from responding to interrogation signals.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selective inhibit occurs as part of a depth-first tree traversal algorithm.
11. A method for interrogating objects to be identified over a communication medium, wherein the objects provide predetermined responses indicative of object identification numbers and each includes a counter, the interrogation comprising the steps of:
sending signals to and receiving signals from the objects over the communication medium;
recording and later retrieving incomplete identification numbers whenever two or more predetermined responses are received from the objects;
sending a signal to the objects to cause the objects to selectively add a number to their respective counter, the number to be determined by each individual object and dependent upon one or more previous responses of the individual object to the interrogation;
sending a signal to the objects to cause the objects to selectively subtract a number from their respective counter, the number to be determined by each individual object and dependent upon one or more previous responses of the individual object to the interrogation;
recording complete identification numbers as they are determined; and
sending a signal to interrogate a single digit from the objects to be identified.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the objects are identified based on a depth-first tree traversal algorithm.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein a speed for determining the identification numbers is deterministic given a set of objects to have their identification numbers determined.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein, in response to interrogation of a signal digit from the objects, each object provides a response regardless of the value of the digit being interrogated.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein the communication channel comprises a radio channel.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the objects each include an RFID transponder.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the counter is included in control circuitry for the RFID transponder.
18. The method of claim 11, wherein the communication channel comprises a wired communication channel.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein values of the respective counters selectively inhibit objects from responding to interrogation signals.
20. The method of claim 11, wherein the selective inhibit occurs as part of a depth-first tree traversal algorithm.

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 of welding comprising:
providing a first workpiece that is made of a material that conducts electricity;
providing a second workpiece that is made of a material that conducts electricity and has a plurality of projections formed therein;
applying a material between each projection of said plurality of projections, said material has an electrical conductivity that is lower than the conductivity of said second workpiece;
disposing an area of said first workpiece at said plurality of projections of said second workpiece; and
conducting electricity through said first workpiece and through at least one of said plurality of projections of said second workpiece.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising melting said plurality of projections progressively.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first set of said plurality of projections has a height and a second set of said plurality of projections has a different height.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein said height and said different height of each of said plurality of projections ranges from 0.2 millimeter to 2.5 millimeter.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising connecting a first electrode to said first workpiece and connecting a second electrode to said second workpiece.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein said first and second workpiece are formed by hydroforming.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising said plurality of projections are formed by hydroforming.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said material is an adhesive.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein said material is non-electrically conductive.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein said applying said material includes applying said material through a nozzle.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein said first workpiece is hollow and has a first wall thickness and said second workpiece is hollow and has a second wall thickness.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of projections has a length, said length ranges from 0.4 to 0.7 of a width of said first workpiece.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of projections has a base width, said base width of each of said plurality of projections ranges from 0.8 to 10 millimeters
14. A projection weld bond system comprising:
a first workpiece that is made of a material that conducts electricity;
a second workpiece that is made of a material that conducts electricity and has a plurality of projections formed therein;
an area of said first workpiece is disposed at said plurality of projections;
a material that has an electrical conductivity lower than the conductivity of said second workpiece and is disposed between each of said plurality of projections; and
means for conducting electricity through said first workpiece and through at least one of said plurality of projections of said second workpiece.
15. The system of claim 14, further comprising means for melting said plurality of projections progressively.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein a first set of said plurality of projections has a height and a second set of said plurality of projections has a different height.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein said height and said different height of each of said plurality of projections ranges from 0.2 millimeter to 2.5 millimeter.
18. The system of claim 14, wherein said means for conducting includes a first electrode connected to said first workpiece and a second electrode connected to said second workpiece.
19. The system of claim 14, wherein said low electrically conductive material is an adhesive.
20. The system of claim 14, wherein said material is non-electrically conductive.
21. The system of claim 14, wherein each of said plurality of projections has a length, said length ranges from 0.4 to 0.7 of a width of said first workpiece.
22. The system of claim 14, wherein each of said plurality of projections has a base width, said base width of each of said plurality of projections ranges from 0.8 to 10 millimeters.