Author: claimsbot

1. An electrical receptacle for selectively conducting electrical power comprising:
a housing having a load side and a line side, the load side having at least two apertures disposed thereon for receiving a user engageable prong, the housing further having at least two conductor contacts, each of the conductor contacts being disposed adjacent to a respective aperture to permit conduction with the user engageable prong;
a contact detector for detecting the presence of a prong in each aperture, the contact detector having an emitter and a pair of detectors, the detectors producing a first signal indicative of the absence of a prong, and the detectors producing a second signal indicative of the presence of a prong; and
an interrupter circuit for governing the flow of electrical power to the conductor contacts, the interrupter circuit having a line side, a load side, and a switch, the switch operatively coupled to a source of electrical power at the line side, and operatively coupled to the conductor contacts at the load side, the switch configured to be closed when both detectors in the pair of detectors produces the second signal indicative of the presence of a prong.
2. The electrical receptacle of claim 1 wherein the receptacle comprises a microcontroller, the microcontroller being configured to receive signals from the detectors and transmit signals to the interrupter circuit, the microcontroller configured to transmit to the interrupter circuit a third signal when there is two or more prongs in the receptacle, and to transmit to the interrupter circuit a fourth signal when there is less than two prongs in the receptacle, and the switch being further configured to be closed when it receives the third signal from the microcontroller.
3. The electrical receptacle of claim 2 comprising a sensor and a communication device, the microcontroller being operatively coupled to the communication device and configured to receive a signal from the sensor.
4. The electrical receptacle of claim 1 wherein the emitter produces light and the first signal produced by the pair of detectors is indicative of the light level.
5. The electrical receptacle of claim 4 comprising a filtering circuit which is coupled to each detector, the emitter is further configured to produce a target frequency, and the filtering circuit is configured to eliminate erroneous signals generated from ambient light by filtering out signals not having the target frequency.
6. The electrical receptacle of claim 5 wherein the contact detector comprises a pair of partitions, each partition is disposed between the emitter and one of the respective detectors, the partition having an aperture to permit light to pass therethrough from the emitter to the respective detector whereby the partition blocks ambient light from the detector.
7. A system for monitoring and controlling an electrical receptacle comprising:
at least one electrical receptacle having a load side and a line side, the load side having at least two apertures disposed thereon for receiving a user engageable prong, the housing further having at least two conductor contacts, each of the conductor contacts being disposed adjacent to a respective aperture to permit conduction with the prong, and the receptacle configured to produce a unique tone; and
a master control panel, the master control panel having an input side wired in electrical connection with the branch circuits of a breaker box and an output side wired in electrical connection with the at least one electrical receptacle, at least one remote circuit breaker for disconnecting at least one of the electrical receptacles to its respective branch circuit.
8. The system of claim 7 wherein the master control panel comprises a battery interface configured to receive electrical power from a battery for power backup.
9. The system of claim 7 wherein the master control panel comprises an alarm system to provide notification in the event of a hazard.
10. The system of claim 7 wherein the master control panel comprises a transceiver for wireless communication with remote devices.
11. The system of claim 7 wherein the master control panel comprises a manual disconnect switch for terminating power to all of the electrical receptacles.
12. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one of the electrical receptacles comprises a current sensor which measures circuit branch electrical current, the current sensor being in communication with the master control, the master control having a display, and the master control configured to monitor the electrical current measured by each current sensor on the display.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein the master control comprises a wireless port and a wireless alert unit, the wireless port transmits signals indicative of the condition of at least one of the electrical receptacles, and the wireless alert unit receives the signals from the wireless port.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein the wireless alert unit sends a wireless alert signal to a computer.

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 computer-implemented method of controlling a machine user interface, comprising:
receiving information including motion information for a control object;
determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to at least one virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device;
determining a control to which the engagement gesture is applicable; and
manipulating the control according to at least the motion information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to a virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device comprises:
determining whether an intersection occurred between control object and at least one virtual control construct.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
determining from the motion information whether the engagement includes continued motion after intersection.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to a virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device comprises:
determining whether a dis-intersection of the control object from the at least one virtual control construct occurred.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to a virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device comprises:
determining whether motion of the control object occurred relative to at least one virtual control construct.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to a virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device comprises:
determining from the motion information one or more engagement attributes defining an engagement gesture.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining from the motion information one or more engagement attributes defining an engagement gesture includes:
determining a potential energy from the motion information.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to a virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device comprises:
identifying an engagement gesture by correlating motion information to at least one engagement gesture based at least upon one or more of motion of the control object, occurrence of any of an intersection, a dis-intersection or a non-intersection of the control object with the virtual control construct, and the set of engagement attributes.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a control to which the engagement gesture is applicable includes:
selecting at least one of a control associated with an application, a control associated with an operating environment, and a special control.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein manipulating a control according to at least the motion information includes:
controlling a user interface in a first mode, and otherwise controlling the user interface in a second mode different from the first mode.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
updating at least a spatial position of the at least one control surface based at least in part on a spatial position of the control object determined from the motion information; thereby enabling the spatial position of the at least one virtual control construct to follow tracked motions of the control object.
12. A computer-implemented method of controlling a machine user interface, comprising:
receiving information including motion information for a control object;
determining from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to at least one virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device, comprising:
determining whether an intersection occurred between control object and at least one virtual control construct, and when an intersection has occurred determining from the motion information whether the engagement includes continued motion after intersection; otherwise
determining whether a dis-intersection of the control object from the at least one virtual control construct occurred; otherwise
determining whether motion of the control object occurred relative to at least one virtual control construct;
determining from the motion information a set of engagement attributes defining an engagement gesture; and
identifying an engagement gesture by correlating motion information to at least one engagement gesture based at least upon one or more of motion of the control object, occurrence of any of an intersection, a dis-intersection or a non-intersection of the control object with the virtual control construct, and the set of engagement attributes;
determining a control to which the engagement gesture is applicable; and
manipulating the control according to at least the engagement gesture.
13. A computer-implemented method for controlling a user interface via free-space motions of a control object, the method comprising:
receiving motion information indicating positions of a control object being tracked in free space; and
using a processor, (i) defining a virtual control construct, at least a portion thereof having a spatial position determined based at least in part on the motion information such that the virtual control construct portion is positioned proximate to the control object; (ii) determining from the motion information whether the tracked motions of the control object indicate that the control object has intersected the virtual control construct; and (iii) switching from conducting control of a user interface in a first mode to conducting control of the user interface in a second mode based at least in part upon an occurrence of the control object intersecting the virtual control construct.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:
updating at least the spatial position of the virtual control construct portion based at least in part on the motion information such that the virtual control construct portion is enabled to follow the control object.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the virtual control construct computationally follows the tracked motions of the control object with a time lag.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the time lag is fixed.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the time lag is computed by the processor and depends on a motion parameter of the control object.
18. The method of claim 14, wherein the spatial position of the virtual control construct is updated by the processor based on a current distance between the control object and the virtual control construct.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the spatial position of the virtual control construct is updated in accordance with a virtual energy potential defined as a function of the distance between the control object and the virtual control construct.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the virtual energy potential comprises minima at steady-state distances between the control object and the virtual control construct in the engaged mode and the disengaged mode.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the steady-state distance in the engaged mode is equal to the steady-state distance in the disengaged mode.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein the steady-state distance in the engaged mode is larger than the steady-state distance in the disengaged mode.
23. The method of claim 13, further comprising computationally tracking the motions of the control object based on a temporal sequence of images of the control object.
24. The method of claim 23, further comprising acquiring the sequence of images with a camera system having depth-sensing capability.
25. The method of claim 13, further comprising computationally filtering the motions of the control object based, at least in part, on a velocity thereof.
26. The method of claim 13, wherein the first mode is an engaged mode and the second mode is a disengaged mode.
27. The method of claim 13, further comprising computationally determining, during a transition from the disengaged mode to the engaged mode, a degree of penetration of the virtual control construct by the control object, and controlling the user interface based at least in part thereon.
28. The method of claim 13, wherein conducting control of the user interface comprises updating screen content based, at least in part, on the mode and the tracked motions of the control object.
29. The method of claim 13, wherein conducting control of the user interface comprises operating a cursor associated with a position on a screen based, at least in part, on the mode and the tracked motions of the control object.
30. The method of claim 29, wherein operating the cursor comprises displaying a cursor symbol on the screen at the associated position.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein the cursor symbol is indicative of a distance between the control object and the virtual control construct.
32. The method of claim 13, wherein the virtual control construct comprises a virtual surface construct.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein the virtual surface construct is computationally defined as a plane oriented relative to at least one of a tracked orientation of the control object or an orientation of a screen displaying the user interface.
34. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the control object has intersected the virtual control construct comprises computing an intersection of a straight line through an axis of the control object with a screen displaying the user interface.
35. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the control object has intersected the virtual control construct comprises computationally projecting a tip of the control object perpendicularly onto a screen displaying the user interface.
36. A system for controlling a machine user interface via free-space motions of a control object tracked with an image capturing device, the system comprising:
a processor; and
memory storing
(i) motion information for the control object; and
(ii) processor-executable instructions for causing the processor to determine from the motion information whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to at least one virtual control construct defined within a field of view of the image capturing device, to determine a control to which the engagement gesture is applicable, and to manipulate the control according to at least the motion information.
37. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, storing one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
determine from motion information received for a control object whether a motion of the control object is an engagement gesture according to an occurrence of an engagement gesture applied to at least one virtual control construct defined within a field of view of an image capturing device;
determine a control to which the engagement gesture is applicable; and
manipulate the control according to at least the motion information.

1. A fuel metering system, comprising:
a fuel metering valve coupled to receive valve position commands and operable, in response thereto, to move to a valve position, the fuel metering valve having a position control characteristic that is represented by an N-th order polynomial equation;
a valve characteristic circuit mounted at least proximate the fuel metering valve, the valve characteristic circuit including a plurality of resistors, each resistor having a resistance value representative of at least one digit in the N-th order polynomial equation;
a controller coupled to the valve characteristic circuit, the controller operable to:
(i) selectively determine the resistance value of each resistor,
(ii) determine the fuel metering valve position control characteristic using the determined resistance values, and
(iii) selectively supply the valve position commands to the fuel metering valve using the determined fuel metering valve position control characteristic.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein:
the valve characteristic circuit further includes a multiplexer disposed between the controller and at least a portion of the resistors, the multiplexer operable, in response to channel select signals, to selectively couple one of the plurality of resistors to the controller; and
the controller is further operable to selectively supply the channel select signals to the multiplexer.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine the resistance value of a resistor by:
supplying an excitation current to the resistor to thereby generate a voltage drop across the resistor; and
measuring the voltage drop across the resistor.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the excitation current has a predetermined current magnitude.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the predetermined current magnitude is about 1.0 milliamps.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the position control characteristic is a flow versus valve position characteristic.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein:
the N-th order polynomial equation includes N-number of coefficients;
each resistance value represents a digit in a decade of one of the N-number of multi-decade coefficients.
8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:
a position sensor operably coupled to the fuel metering valve for sensing a position of the fuel metering valve and supplying a fuel metering valve position signal representative thereof,
wherein the controller is coupled to receive the fuel metering valve position signal and is further operable to selectively supply the valve position commands based at least in part thereon.
9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:
a fuel supply line having an inlet adapted to receive a flow of fuel, and an outlet adapted to supply fuel to a turbine engine combustor,
wherein the fuel metering valve is disposed in flow series in the fuel supply line to thereby control fuel flow through the fuel supply line.
10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:
a flow sensor operably coupled to the fuel supply line for sensing flow rate of the fuel through the fuel supply line and supplying a flow signal representative thereof,
wherein the controller is coupled to receive the flow signal and is further operable to selectively supply the valve position commands based at least in part thereon.
11. A valve assembly having a position control characteristic that is represented by an N-th order polynomial equation, the valve assembly comprising:
a valve housing having at least a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, an a flow passage between the fluid inlet and fluid outlet;
a valve element mounted on the valve housing and disposed at least partially within the valve housing flow passage, the valve element movable between a closed position and an open position; and
a valve characteristic circuit mounted on the valve housing, the valve characteristic circuit including a plurality of resistors, each resistor having a resistance value representative of at least one digit in the N-th order polynomial equation.
12. The valve of claim 11, wherein the valve characteristic circuit further includes:
a multiplexer having a supplysense terminal, a plurality of resistor terminals, and a plurality of channel select terminals, the supplysense terminal adapted to receive an excitation current, each of the resistor terminals coupled to one of the resistors, and the channel select terminals adapted to receive channel select signals, the multiplexer operable, in response to the channel select signals, to selectively couple one of the resistors to the supplysense terminal.
13. The valve assembly of claim 11, further comprising:
a valve actuator coupled to the valve element and adapted to receive valve position commands, the valve actuator responsive to the valve position commands to move the valve element between the open and the closed positions.
14. The valve assembly of claim 11, wherein the position control characteristic is a flow versus valve position characteristic.
15. The valve assembly of claim 11, wherein:
the N-th order polynomial equation includes N-number of coefficients;
each resistance value represents a digit in a decade of one of the N-number of multi-decade coefficients.
16. A method of supplying flow calibration data for a valve assembly, comprising the steps of:
measuring flow versus valve position data for the valve;
determining an N-th order polynomial curve fit equation from the measured flow versus position data, the N-th order polynomial curve fit equation including N-number of coefficients;
determining resistance values to represent at least one digit in each of the N-number of coefficients; and
mounting a plurality of resistors at least adjacent to the valve assembly, each resistor having a resistance value equal to one of the determined resistance values.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:
selectively determining the resistance values of each of the plurality of resistors;
generating the N-th order polynomial curve fit equation using the determined resistance values; and
controlling valve position using the N-th order polynomial curve fit equation to obtain a desired flow through the valve assembly.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of selectively determining the resistance values of each of the plurality of resistors comprises:
selectively supplying an excitation current of a predetermined current magnitude to each resistor to thereby selectively generate a voltage drop across each resistor; and
measuring the voltage drop across each resistor.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the predetermined current magnitude is about 1.0 milliamps.
20. The method of claim 16, wherein:
the N-th order polynomial equation includes N-number of coefficients;
each resistance value represents a digit in a decade of one of the N-number of coefficients.

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 installing computer programs in a network having a set of computers comprising the steps of:
providing a first installation computer having operating software and installation software;
providing a set of at least one client computer broadcasting installation requests at a dynamically adjustable rate; in which a client computer initially broadcasts installation requests at an initial request rate and monitors the total installation request rate carried on said network, wherein said installation requests include requests for operating system software; and said client computer adjusts its own broadcast rate by comparing said total installation request rate with a target installation request rate and adjusting its own rate by an adjustment amount that depends on the difference between said total installation request rate and said target request rate;
said first installing computer responds to a first installation request and installs both said operating software and installation software on a first client computer of said set of computers, thereby establishing said client computer as a secondary installation computer, and during which installation operation, said first installing computer ignores installation requests;
upon completion of the first installation, both said first installing computer and said secondary installation computer service installation requests by installing both said operating software and installation software.
2. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 1, in which said adjustment amount is linearly proportional to said difference between said total installation request rate and said target request rate.
3. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 1, in which said target rate is proportional to the total network bandwidth rate.
4. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 3, in which said target rate is less than 10% of the total network bandwidth rate.
5. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 1, in which an installing computer responds to an installation request received by it in a probabilistic manner.
6. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 5, in which an installing computer responds to a first installation request received by it according to an initial reference probability.
7. A method of installing computer programs in a network a client computer according to claim 6, in which an installing computer responds to an installation request received by it according to a current installation probability and, upon completing an installation request responded to by it reduces its current installation probability by a reduction factor to calculate a new current installation probability with which it will respond to future requests.
8. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 7, in which said installing computer transmits to a newly-installed client computer, now a secondary installation computer, said new current installation probability, whereby said newly-installed secondary installation computer responds to installation requests with said new current installation probability.
9. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 8, in which said reduction factor is \xbd, whereby said installing computer and said secondary installation computer have the same probability and the total probability of response of said installing computer and said secondary installation computer is the same as the previous probability of response of said installing computer.
10. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 5, in which said first installing computer has a network address that is halfway in a network address range and said first installing computer assigns to each secondary installation computer installed by it a secondary installation computer network address range that is half of said first installing computer’s then-current network address range and a network address that is halfway in said secondary installation computer network address range.
11. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 7, in which said first installing computer has a network address that is halfway in a network address range and said first installing computer assigns to each secondary installation computer installed by it a secondary installation computer network address range that is half of said first installing computer’s then-current network address range and a network address that is halfway in said secondary installation computer network address range.
12. A method of installing computer programs in a network according to claim 9, in which said first installing computer has a network address that is halfway in a network address range and said first installing computer assigns to each secondary installation computer installed by it a secondary installation computer network address range that is half of said first installing computer’s then-current network address range and a network address that is halfway in said secondary installation computer network address range.
13. An article of manufacture in computer readable form comprising means for performing a method of installing computer programs in a network having a set of computers comprising the steps of:
providing a first installation computer having operating software and installation software;
providing a set of at least one client computer broadcasting installation requests at a dynamically adjustable rate; in which a client computer initially broadcasts installation requests at an initial request rate and monitors the total installation request rate carried on said network, wherein said installation requests include requests for operating system software; and said client computer adjusts its own broadcast rate by comparing said total installation request rate with a target installation request rate and adjusting its own rate by an adjustment amount that depends on the difference between said total installation request rate and said target request rate;
said first installing computer responds to a first installation request and installs both said operating software and installation software on a first client computer of said set of computers, thereby establishing said client computer as a secondary installation computer, and during which installation operation, said first installing computer ignores installation requests;
upon completion of the first installation, both said first installing computer and said secondary installation computer service installation requests by installing both said operating software and installation software.
14. An article of manufacture according to claim 13, in which said adjustment amount is linearly proportional to said difference between said total installation request rate and said target request rate.
15. An article of manufacture according to claim 13, in which an installing computer responds to an installation request received by it in a probabilistic manner.
16. An article of manufacture according to claim 15, in which an installing computer responds to a first installation request received by it according to an initial reference probability.
17. An article of manufacture according to claim 16, in which an installing computer responds to an installation request received by it according to a current installation probability and, upon completing an installation request responded to by it reduces its current installation probability by a reduction factor to calculate a new current installation probability with which it will respond to future requests.
18. A computer system having a set of computers connected by a network and containing a set of computers operating a program in computer readable form adapted for carrying out a method comprising the steps of:
providing a first installation computer having operating software and installation software; in which a client computer initially broadcasts installation requests at an initial request rate and monitors the total installation request rate carried on said network, wherein said installation requests include requests for operating system software; and said client computer adjusts its own broadcast rate by comparing said total installation request rate with a target installation request rate and adjusting its own rate by an adjustment amount that depends on the difference between said total installation request rate and said target request rate;
providing a set of at least one client computer broadcasting installation requests at a dynamically adjustable rate; in which said first installing computer responds to a first installation request and installs both said operating software and installation software on a first client computer of said set of computers, thereby establishing said client computer as a secondary installation computer, and during which installation operation, said first installing computer ignores installation requests;
upon completion of the first installation, both said first installing computer and said secondary installation computer service installation requests by installing both said operating software and installation software.
19. A computer system according to claim 18, in which said adjustment amount is linearly proportional to said difference between said total installation request rate and said target request rate.
20. A computer system according to claim 19, in which an installing computer responds to an installation request received by it in a probabilistic manner.
21. A computer system according to claim 20, in which an installing computer responds to a first installation request received by it according to an initial reference probability.
22. A computer system according to claim 21, in which an installing computer responds to an installation request received by it according to a current installation probability and, upon completing an installation request responded to by it reduces its current installation probability by a reduction factor to calculate a new current installation probability with which it will respond to future requests.