Author: claimsbot

1. An antenna array system, comprising:
a launcher comprising an antenna configured to establish and steer a wavefront; and
an array of Yagi-Uda director trains coupled to the launcher and located in a path of the wavefront, wherein:
the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to influence a beamwidth of the launcher;
the array of Yagi-Uda director trains comprises alternating layers of printed circuit cards and structural layers;
the alternating layers of the printed circuit cards and the structural layers comprise a first printed circuit card arranged adjacent to a second printed circuit card with a corresponding structural layer therebetween; and
the first printed circuit card is arranged between the antenna and the second printed circuit card.
2. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the launcher comprises:
a line array of antenna elements.
3. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the launcher comprises:
at least one of a linearly polarized antenna, a circularly polarized antenna, or a dual-polarized antenna.
4. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the launcher comprises:
an antenna array having at least one row of antenna elements.
5. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane perpendicular to the row of antenna elements.
6. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane parallel to the row of antenna elements.
7. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to facilitate a larger antenna element spacing in the antenna array.
8. The antenna array system of claim 4, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to facilitate a larger row spacing in the antenna array.
9. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein each of the printed circuit cards comprises plural crossed-dipole elements printed on a thin film.
10. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the structural layers are foam.
11. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein each Yagi-Uda director train includes plural dipole elements.
12. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to influence a gain of the launcher.
13. The antenna array system of claim 12, wherein the array of Yagi-Uda director trains is configured to increase the gain of the launcher.
14. The antenna array system of claim 1, wherein the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in a first direction substantially orthogonal to a second direction in which the antenna is configured to emit the wavefront, such that the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in the path of the wavefront.
15. An antenna array system, comprising:
means for launching a wavefront, the launching means including an antenna; and
means coupled to the launching means for focusing the wavefront, wherein:
the focusing means is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane perpendicular to the launching means;
the focusing means comprises an array of Yagi-Uda director trains;
the array of Yagi-Uda director trains comprises alternating layers of printed circuit cards and structural layers;
the alternating layers of the printed circuit cards and the structural layers comprise a first printed circuit card arranged adjacent to a second printed circuit card with a corresponding structural layer therebetween; and
the first printed circuit card is arranged between the antenna and the second printed circuit card.
16. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the launching means comprises:
a line array of antenna elements.
17. The antenna array system of claim 16, wherein the line array of antenna elements comprises:
a waveguide line array.
18. The antenna array system of claim 16, wherein the focusing means is configured to produce a narrow beamwidth in a plane parallel to the line array of antenna elements.
19. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the launching means is configured to establish the wavefront and change a direction of the wavefront.
20. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the structural layers are foam.
21. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein each Yagi-Uda director train comprises:
plural crossed-dipole elements.
22. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein each Yagi-Uda director train comprises:
plural dipole elements.
23. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the focusing means is configured to influence a gain of the launching means.
24. The antenna array system of claim 23, wherein the focusing means is configured to increase the gain of the launching means.
25. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein each of the printed circuit cards comprises plural crossed-dipole elements printed on a thin film.
26. The antenna array system of claim 15, wherein the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in a first direction substantially orthogonal to a second direction in which the antenna is configured to emit the wavefront, such that the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in the path of the wavefront.
27. A method for beam steering, comprising:
launching a wavefront generated by an antenna through an array of director elements, the array of director elements comprising alternating layers of printed circuit cards and structural layers; and
steering the wavefront, wherein the array of director elements focuses the wavefront and influences gain of the antenna over plural steering angles, wherein:
the alternating layers of the printed circuit cards and the structural layers comprise a first printed circuit card arranged adjacent to a second printed circuit card with a corresponding structural layer therebetween; and
the first printed circuit card is arranged between the antenna and the second printed circuit card.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the launching comprises:
launching the wavefront generated by a line array of antenna elements.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of director elements produces a narrow beamwidth in a plane perpendicular to the line array.
30. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of director elements produces a narrow beamwidth in a plane parallel to the line array.
31. The method of claim 27, wherein the launching comprises:
launching the wavefront generated by a line array of antenna elements through an array of Yagi-Uda director trains coupled to the line array.
32. The method of claim 27, wherein the array of director elements increases the gain of the antenna over plural steering angles.
33. The method of claim 27, wherein the structural layers are foam.
34. The method of claim 27, wherein each of the printed circuit cards comprises plural crossed-dipole elements printed on a thin film.
35. The method of claim 27, wherein the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in a first direction substantially orthogonal to a second direction in which the antenna is configured to emit the wavefront, such that the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are arranged in the path of the wavefront.

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

What is claimed is:

1. A machine implemented method comprising:
(a) characterizing an object by color regions; and
(b) identifying the object in accordance with at least said color region based characterization of the object.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises characterizing a plurality of color regions by their colors.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises characterizing a plurality of color regions by their sizes.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises characterizing a plurality of color regions by their relative positions to each other.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) comprises analyzing and associating pixels of a frame of video signals of the object to form the color regions.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein (b) comprises assigning an identity of a selected one of a plurality of color characterized reference objects to the object, in accordance with at least said color region based characterizations.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the object and the selected reference object have consistent color region based characterizations.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said method further comprises
(c) generating output response in accordance with the result of (b).
9. The method of claim 8 wherein (c) comprises rendering audio response.
10. A storage medium having stored therein a plurality of machine executable instructions, wherein when executed, the instructions characterize an object by color regions, and identify the object in accordance with at least said color region based characterization of the object.
11. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their colors.
12. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their sizes.
13. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their relative positions to each other.
14. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions analyze and associate pixels of a frame of video signals of the object to form the color regions.
15. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions assign an identity of a selected one of a plurality of color characterized reference objects to the object, in accordance with at least said color region based characterizations.
16. The storage medium of claim 15 wherein the object and the selected reference object have consistent color region based characterizations.
17. The storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions further generate output response in accordance with the identification result.
18. The storage medium of claim 17 wherein the instructions render audio response.
19. An apparatus comprising:
(a) a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of machine executable instructions, when executed, the instructions characterize an object by color regions, and identify the object in accordance with at least said color region based characterization of the object; and
(b) an execution unit coupled to the storage medium to execute the instructions.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their colors.
21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their sizes.
22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions characterize a plurality of color regions by their relative positions to each other.
23. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions analyze and associate pixels of a frame of video signals of the object to form the color regions.
24. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions assign an identity of a selected one of a plurality of color characterized reference objects to the object, in accordance with at least said color region based characterizations.
25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the object and the selected reference object have consistent color region based characterizations.
26. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the instructions further generate output response in accordance with the identification result.
27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the instructions render audio response.

1. A key pair management method for use in an image forming device, comprising:
determining, when powering on the image forming device, whether key pairs for each of a plurality of key pair types have been generated and stored in a first area of a memory, the plurality of key pair types each being usable for secure communication between the image forming device and an external device;
generating one or more key pairs corresponding respectively to each of one or more non-generated key pair types, non-generated key pair types being key pair types, from among the plurality or key pair types, for which the determining step determined a key pair has not yet been generated;
storing the one or more generated key pairs in the first area of the memory;
receiving input information identifying a key pair type selected for a first secure communication session with the external device from the first area of the memory;
obtaining a key pair, from among generated key pairs stored in the first area of the memory, having the selected key pair type; and
initiating the first secure communication session between the image forming device and the external device using the obtained key pair.
2. The key pair management method according to claim 1, wherein, at least one of the one or more key pairs corresponding respectively to each of one or more non-generated key pair types is generated in an asynchronous mode and stored in the first area of the memory.
3. The key pair management method according to claim 1, wherein, in the obtaining operation, the obtained key pair is moved from the first area of the memory to a second area of the memory, and the obtained key pair is a key pair that was generated in an asynchronous mode and stored in the first area of the memory.
4. The key pair management method according to claim 1, wherein, in the initiation operation includes using, for authentication and encryption of a communication partner, the selected key pair.
5. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a key pair managing program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform key pair management operations for use in an image forming device, the key pair management operations comprising:
determining, when powering on the image forming device, whether key pairs for each of a plurality of key pair types have been generated and stored in a first area of a memory, the plurality of key pair types each being usable for secure communication between the image forming device and an external device;
generating one or more key pairs corresponding respectively to each of one or more non-generated key pair types, non-generated key pair types being key pair types, from among the plurality or key pair types, for which the determining step determined a key pair has not yet been generated;
storing the one or more generated key pairs in the first area of the memory;
receiving input information identifying a key pair type selected for a first secure communication session with the external device from the first area of the memory;
obtaining a key pair, from among the one or more generated key pairs stored in the first area of the memory, having the selected key pair type; and
initiating the first secure communication session between the image forming device and the external device using the obtained key pair.
6. An image forming device comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement:
a management unit configured to,
determine, when powering on the image forming device, whether key pairs for each of a plurality of key pair types have been generated and stored in a first area of a memory, the plurality of key pair types each being usable for secure communication between the image forming device and an external device, and
generate one or more key pairs corresponding respectively to each of one or more non-generated key pair types, non-generated key pair types being key pair types, from among the plurality or key pair types, for which the determining step determined a key pair has not yet been generated,
a storage unit configured to store the one or more generated key pairs in the first area of the memory,
the management unit being further configured to,
receive input information identifying a key pair type selected for a first secure communication session with the external device from the first area of the memory, and
obtain a key pair, from among the one or more generated key pairs stored in the first area of the memory, having the selected key pair type; and
a communication unit configured to initiate the first secure communication session between the image forming device and the external device using the obtained key pair.

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 phase-compensating cube corner retroreflector, comprising:
an entranceexit face devoid of any phase-compensating film stack;
a first rear reflecting face;
a first phase-compensating film stack atop the first rear reflecting face, wherein the first phase-compensating film stack induces 2n\u03c0 phase difference in light upon reflection, wherein n is any integer including 0;
a second rear reflecting face;
a second phase-compensating film stack atop the second rear reflecting face, wherein the second phase-compensating film stack induces 2n\u03c0 phase difference in light upon reflection;
a third rear reflecting face;
a third phase-compensating film stack atop the third rear reflecting face, wherein the third phase-compensating film stack induces the 2n\u03c0 phase difference in light upon reflection;
wherein light enters and exits the cube corner retroreflector with substantially the same polarization orientation and substantially the same polarization ellipticity.
2. The retroreflector of claim 1, wherein the first, the second, and the third phase-compensating film stacks each comprises a stack of thin films wherein reflections from the thin films interfere to induce the 2n\u03c0 phase difference, and an interface between the last film and air provides total internal reflection.
3. The retroreflector of claim 1, wherein the phase-compensating film stack and said another phase-compensating stack each comprises:
a first layer atop the corresponding reflecting face, the first layer comprising of silicon dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 815 nm;
a second layer atop the first layer, the second layer comprising titanium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 1066 nm;
a third layer atop the second layer, the third layer comprising silicon dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 1090 nm; and
a fourth layer atop the third layer, the fourth layer comprises titanium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 1702 nm.
4. The retroreflector of claim 1, wherein the first, the second, and the third phase-compensating film stacks each comprises:
a first layer atop the corresponding reflecting face, the first layer comprising of magnesium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 715 nm; and
a second layer atop the first layer, the second layer comprising titanium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 1903 nm.
5. The retroreflector of claim 1, wherein the first, the second, and the third phase-compensating film stacks each comprises:
a first layer atop the corresponding reflecting face, the first layer comprising of titanium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 262.5 nm;
a second layer atop the first layer, the second layer comprising silicon dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 346.5 nm;
a third layer atop the second layer, the third layer comprising titanium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 1018.5 nm;
a fourth layer atop the third layer, the fourth layer comprises silicon dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 462 nm; and
a fifth layer atop the fourth layer, the fifth layer comprising titanium dioxide having an optical thickness of approximately 850.5 nm.