Author: claimsbot

1. A method for authenticating a timepiece comprising:
measuring acoustic vibrations emitted by said timepiece to obtain an electrical signal, said electrical signal indicating a variation of a magnitude of said measured acoustic vibrations as a function of time, wherein said electrical signal comprises a plurality of acoustic events associated with mechanical shocks taking place in said timepiece, said acoustic events being separated from each other by respective quiet zones;
processing said electrical signal so as to attenuate said plurality of acoustic events in said electrical signal;
performing a transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain to obtain a frequency-domain power spectrum indicating a variation of a power of said processed electrical signal as a function of frequency using a processor of a computing device;
processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to identify at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum corresponding to at least one resonance frequency of a part of said timepiece resonating in a quiet zone;
extracting said at least one resonance frequency corresponding to said at least one narrow peak;
comparing said extracted at least one resonance frequency with at least one reference resonance frequency; and
determining an authenticity of said timepiece based on the comparing.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain is a Fourier transform.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the Fourier transform is a Fast Fourier transform.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said processing said electrical signal so as to attenuate said plurality of events in said electrical signal comprises:
sampling said electrical signal (S);
calculating an envelope (E) of said sampled electrical signal (S) by averaging an absolute value of a plurality of samples; and
calculating a ratio of said sampled electrical signal (S) divided by said calculated envelope (E) of said sampled electrical signal (S).
5. The method according to one of claim 1, wherein said processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reveal at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum comprises filtering said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reduce a background part and retain sharp peaks within said frequency-domain power spectrum.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reveal at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum comprises:
calculating, for each frequency (F) of said frequency-domain power spectrum, a module (M(F)) of a complex number obtained in performing said transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain; and
multiplying said module (M(F)) of said complex number by an absolute value of a difference between said module (M(F)) of said complex number and a module (M(F\u22121)) of a complex number for an immediately preceding frequency and by an absolute value of a difference between said module (M(F)) of said complex number and a module (M(F+1)) of a complex number for an immediately following frequency.
7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:
repeating said calculating and multiplying a predetermined number of times; and
determining, for each frequency (F) of said frequency-domain power spectrum, an average of results (V(F)) of said repeated calculating and multiplying.
8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising extracting a width of said revealed at least one narrow peak.
9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising extracting a relative amplitude of said revealed at least one narrow peak.
10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising introducing a resonator into said timepiece, said resonator having predetermined resonance frequency characteristics, wherein said comparing comprises comparing said extracted at least one resonance frequency with said predetermined resonance frequency characteristics to derive information on an authenticity of said timepiece.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein at least one of a material, thickness and width of said resonator is selected so as to obtain said predetermined resonance frequency characteristics.
12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising encoding said predetermined resonance frequency characteristics to create a unique identifier for said timepiece having said resonator introduced therein.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the part is a mechanical part.
14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the information on an authenticity of said timepiece comprises one of an indication of authenticity and an indication of a counterfeit.
15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising recertifying the timepiece when timepiece maintenance is performed.
16. The method according to claim 1, wherein a threshold for determining a positive authentication of a timepiece is configured in dependence upon an age of the timepiece.
17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more components whose resonance frequencies are detected may be two or more components acting as a single resonator.
18. A timepiece comprising a resonator having predetermined resonance frequency characteristics being selected so as to be recognizable based on at least one narrow peak in a frequency-domain power spectrum upon carrying out the method for authenticating a timepiece according to claim 1.
19. A timepiece according to claim 18, wherein said timepiece is a watch.
20. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing instructions, which, upon being executed by a processor of a computer device, cause the processor to execute a method comprising:
measuring acoustic vibrations emitted by a timepiece to obtain an electrical signal, said electrical signal indicating a variation of a magnitude of said measured acoustic vibrations as a function of time, wherein said electrical signal comprises a plurality of acoustic events associated with mechanical shocks taking place in said timepiece, said acoustic events being separated from each other by respective quiet zones;
processing said electrical signal so as to attenuate said plurality of acoustic events in said electrical signal;
performing a transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain to obtain a frequency-domain power spectrum indicating a variation of a power of said processed electrical signal as a function of frequency;
processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reveal at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum corresponding to at least one resonance frequency of a part of said timepiece resonating in a quiet zone;
extracting said at least one resonance frequency corresponding to said at least one narrow peak;
comparing said extracted at least one resonance frequency with at least one reference resonance frequency; and
determining information regarding an authenticity of said timepiece based on the comparing.
21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the part is a mechanical part.
22. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the information regarding authenticity of said timepiece comprises one of an indication of authenticity and an indication of a counterfeit.
23. A system for authenticating a timepiece comprising:
a measuring tool configured to measure acoustic vibrations emitted by said timepiece to obtain an electrical signal, said electrical signal indicating a variation of a magnitude of said measured acoustic vibrations as a function of time, wherein said electrical signal comprises a plurality of acoustic events associated with mechanical shocks taking place in said timepiece, said acoustic events being separated from each other by respective quiet zones;
an attenuating tool configured to process said electrical signal to attenuate said plurality of acoustic events in said electrical signal;
a transform tool configured to perform a transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain to obtain a frequency-domain power spectrum indicating a variation of a power of said processed electrical signal as a function of frequency using a processor of a computing device;
a peak identification tool configured to process said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reveal at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum corresponding to at least one resonance frequency of a part of said timepiece resonating in a quiet zone;
an extraction tool configured to extract said at least one resonance frequency corresponding to said at least one narrow peak; and
an identification tool configured to create an identification code based on said at least one resonance frequency.
24. The system of claim 23, further comprising:
a comparison tool configured to compare said extracted at least one resonance frequency with at least one reference resonance frequency; and
an authenticity determination tool configured to determine an authenticity of said timepiece based on a result of the comparison tool.
25. The system of claim 23, wherein the part is a mechanical part.
26. The system of claim 23, wherein the part is an aesthetic part.
27. A method for generating an identifier for a timepiece, the method comprising:
measuring acoustic vibrations emitted by said timepiece to obtain an electrical signal, said electrical signal indicating a variation of a magnitude of said measured acoustic vibrations as a function of time, wherein said electrical signal comprises a plurality of acoustic events associated with mechanical shocks taking place in said timepiece, said acoustic events being separated from each other by respective quiet zones;
processing said electrical signal so as to attenuate said plurality of acoustic events in said electrical signal;
performing a transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain to obtain a frequency-domain power spectrum indicating a variation of a power of said processed electrical signal as a function of frequency using a processor of a computing device;
processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to identify at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum corresponding to at least one resonance frequency of a part of said timepiece resonating in a quiet zone;
extracting said at least one resonance frequency corresponding to said at least one narrow peak; and
creating an identification code based on the at least one resonance frequency.
28. The method of claim 27, further comprising storing the identification code in a storage system.
29. A method for generating an identifier for a timepiece, the method comprising:
measuring acoustic vibrations emitted by said timepiece to obtain an electrical signal;
identifying at least one narrow peak in a frequency-domain power spectrum corresponding to at least one resonance frequency of a part of said timepiece resonating using a processor of a computing device;
extracting said at least one resonance frequency corresponding to said at least one narrow peak; and
creating an identification code based on the at least one resonance frequency.
30. A method for authenticating an item, the method comprising:
measuring acoustic vibrations emitted by the item to obtain an electrical signal;
identifying at least one resonance frequency using the electrical signal; and
creating an identification code based on the at least one resonance frequency using a processor of a computing device.
31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
comparing the at least one resonance frequency with at least one reference resonance frequency; and
determining an authenticity of the item based on the comparing.
32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
comparing the identification code with at least one reference identification code; and
determining an authenticity of the item based on the comparing.
33. The method of claim 30, wherein the item comprises a timepiece.
34. The method of claim 33, wherein the timepiece comprises a watch.
35. The method of claim 30, wherein the electrical signal indicates a variation of a magnitude of the measured acoustic vibrations as a function of time, wherein said electrical signal comprises a plurality of acoustic events associated with mechanical shocks taking place in said timepiece, said acoustic events being separated from each other by respective quiet zones.
36. The method of claim 35, further comprising processing said electrical signal to attenuate said plurality of acoustic events in said electrical signal.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein said processing said electrical signal so as to attenuate said plurality of events in said electrical signal comprises:
sampling said electrical signal (S); calculating an envelope (E) of said sampled electrical signal (S) by averaging an absolute value of a plurality of samples; and
calculating a ratio of said sampled electrical signal (S) divided by said calculated envelope (E) of said sampled electrical signal (S).
38. The method of claim 36, further comprising performing a transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain to obtain a frequency-domain power spectrum indicating a variation of a power of said processed electrical signal as a function of frequency.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein said transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain is a Fourier transform.
40. The method of claim 38, wherein the identifying at least one resonance frequency using the electrical signal comprises processing the frequency-domain power spectrum to identify at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum corresponding to the at least one resonance frequency of a part of said timepiece resonating in a quiet zone.
41. The method of claim 40, wherein said processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reveal at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum comprises filtering said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reduce a background part and retain sharp peaks within said frequency-domain power spectrum.
42. The method according to claim 40, wherein said processing said frequency-domain power spectrum so as to reveal at least one narrow peak in said frequency-domain power spectrum comprises:
calculating, for each frequency (F) of said frequency-domain power spectrum, a module (M(F)) of a complex number obtained in performing said transform of said processed electrical signal into a frequency domain; and
multiplying said module (M(F)) of said complex number by an absolute value of a difference between said module (M(F)) of said complex number and a module (M(F\u22121)) of a complex number for an immediately preceding frequency and by an absolute value of a difference between said module (M(F)) of said complex number and a module (M(F+1)) of a complex number for an immediately following frequency.
43. The method of claim 40, further comprising extracting the at least one resonance frequency corresponding to said at least one narrow peak.

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 striking trainer comprising:
a body, a datum being perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the body;
at least one first striking assembly further comprising an arm, a pivoting structure and a striking portion, one end of the arm assembled to the body, the pivoting structure having a first pivoting portion and a second pivoting portion, another end of the arm pivotally connected to the first pivoting portion, the first pivoting portion defining a first pivoting shaft, the first pivoting portion being rotatable relative to the arm via the first pivoting shaft so as to rotate the pivoting structure relative to the first pivoting shaft, one end of the striking portion pivotally connected to the second pivoting portion, a second pivoting shaft defined by the second pivoting portion, the striking portion being rotatable relative to the second pivoting portion via the second pivoting shaft so as to rotate the striking portion relative to the pivoting structure, the first pivoting shaft being not parallel to the second pivoting shaft and the datum.
2. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein an extending direction of the arm is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the body; the first pivoting shaft is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the body; the second pivoting shaft is perpendicular to the first pivoting shaft.
3. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pivoting structure is formed as an integral body; the first pivoting portion and the second pivoting portion are respectively disposed at two ends of the pivoting structure.
4. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein a top side of the arm facing the first pivoting portion is formed with a plurality of teeth; a bottom side of the first pivoting portion facing the arm is formed with a plurality of teeth, wherein the teeth of the arm engage with the teeth of the first pivoting portion; a front side of the second pivoting portion facing the striking portion is formed with a plurality of teeth; a rear side of the striking portion facing the second pivoting portion is formed with a plurality of teeth wherein the teeth of the striking portion engage with the teeth of the second pivoting portion.
5. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body further comprises a rod member, a base and a sleeve member; one end of the rod member is connected to the base; the rod member is sleeved by the sleeve member; at least one connecting portion is assembled to the sleeve member;
the first striking assembly is connected to the connecting portion via the arm; a second striking assembly is assembled to another end of the rod member.
6. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the connecting portion has a screw portion defined thereon; the arm of the first striking assembly is screwed to the screw portion of the connecting portion.
7. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of the striking portion, which is close to the second pivoting portion, is bent.
8. The striking trainer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the rod member is telescopic; the rod member comprises a first portion, a second portion sleeved to the first portion, and a fastener; the first portion has at least one first through hole; the second portion has a plurality of second through holes; the fastener is disposed through the first through hole and secured in one of the second through holes.

1. An electric arc welder for performing a weld process with selected current: waveform performed between an electrode and a workpiece, said welder comprising:
a sensor for acquiring measured values of a welding parameter; and
an error amplifier that derives a wire feed speed control signal for adjusting wire feed speed from the measured values of the welding parameter and a setpoint value.
2. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 1 wherein the measured values of the welding parameter include measured welding voltage values.
3. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 2 further comprising:
a digital signal processing block computing a voltage integration value of the measured welding voltage values integrated over a time interval, the error amplifier deriving the wire feed speed control signal using the voltage integration value.
4. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 3 wherein the error amplifier comprises:
a difference operator computing a difference between the voltage integration value and the setpoint value, the wire feed speed control signal being derived from the computed difference.
5. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 4 wherein the voltage integration value is selected from a group consisting of (i) an average voltage value over the time interval, (ii) an rms voltage value over the time interval, and (iii) a weighted sum of average voltage value over the time interval and an rms voltage value over the time interval.
6. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:
a digital signal processing block computing an integration value of the measured values of the welding parameter integrated over a time interval, the error amplifier deriving the wire feed speed control signal using the integration value.
7. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 6 wherein the error amplifier comprises:
a difference operator computing a difference between the integration value and the setpoint value, the wire feed speed control signal being derived from the computed difference.
8. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 7 wherein the integration value comprises an average value of the measured values of the welding parameter over the time interval.
9. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 7 wherein the integration value comprises an rms value of the measured values of the welding parameter over the time interval.
10. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 7 wherein the integration value comprises a combination of (i) an rms value of the measured values of the welding parameter over the time interval and (ii) an average value of the measured values of the welding parameter over the time interval.
11. A method for controlling wire feed speed in an electric arc welder, the method comprising:
acquiring a welding value;
computing a wire feed speed control signal based on comparison of the acquired welding value and a setpoint value; and
controlling wire feed speed using the computed wire feed speed control signal.
12. The method as set forth in claim 11, wherein the acquiring of a welding value comprises:
acquiring a welding voltage value.
13. The method as set forth in claim 11, wherein the acquiring includes acquiring instantaneous welding values over a time interval, and the computing comprises:
determining an integration value of the acquired instantaneous welding values integrated over the time interval; and
computing the wire feed speed control signal based on a difference between the integration value and the setpoint value.
14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein the acquiring of instantaneous welding values over a time interval comprises:
acquiring instantaneous welding voltage values over the time interval.
15. The method as set forth in claim 14 wherein the integration value is selected from a group consisting of: (i) an average welding voltage value, (ii) an rms welding voltage value, and (iii) a weighted sum of an average welding voltage value and an rms welding voltage value.
16. An electric arc welder comprising:
a controller for adjusting wire feed speed based on a comparison of an acquired welding parameter value and a set point value.
17. The electric arc welder as set forth in claim 16, further comprising:
a digitizing sensor for acquiring instantaneous digital values of a welding parameter, the digital controller computing the acquired welding parameter value from the instantaneous digital values of the welding parameter.
18. The electric arc welder as set forth in claim 17, wherein the controller integrates the acquired instantaneous digital values over a selected time interval to compute the acquired welding parameter value.
19. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 17, wherein the controller computes the acquired welding parameter value as one of (i) an average value of the acquired instantaneous digital values over a selected time interval, (ii) an rms value of the acquired instantaneous digital values over a selected time interval, and (iii) a combination of an average value and an rms value of the acquired instantaneous digital values over a selected time interval.
20. An electric arc welder as set forth in claim 16 wherein the acquired welding parameter value is computed from an acquired weld voltage value.

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 determining an early arrival path of a wireless signal at a device comprising:
capturing a channel energy response at the device;
identifying a first peak in the channel energy response, the first identified peak comprising a maximum value of a first portion of the channel energy response;
positioning and scaling a mask with the first identified peak;
comparing at least a portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the first identified peak; and
determining an earliest arrival path based, at least in part, on the comparison of the at least the portion the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the first identified peak.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
(i) identifying, based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask, a next peak, the next identified peak comprising a maximum value of a next portion of the channel energy response, wherein the next identified peak occurs at an earlier time than an earlier identified peak and rises above the mask as positioned and scaled with the earlier identified peak;
(ii) positioning and scaling the mask with the next identified peak; and
(iii) comparing at least a portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the next identified peak;
wherein determining the earliest arrival path is further based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the next identified peak.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the earlier identified peak is the first identified peak.
4. The method of claim 2, further comprising repeating (i), (ii), and (iii) until no additional peaks rise above the mask as positioned and scaled with a most recently-identified peak.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying a noise threshold; and
comparing at least a portion of the channel energy response with the noise threshold;
wherein determining the earliest arrival path is further based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the noise threshold.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
determining an expected aliased term; and
adjusting at least a portion of the noise threshold based on the determined expected alias term.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the mask from a plurality of masks based on one or more characteristics of the channel energy response.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more characteristics of the channel energy response includes a power level of a portion of the channel energy response.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mask is derived from an auto-correlation function of at least one signal.
10. A mobile device comprising:
a memory;
a wireless communication interface configured to capture a channel energy response; and
a processing unit communicatively coupled to the memory and the wireless communication interface and configured to:
identify a first peak in the channel energy response, the first identified peak comprising a maximum value of a first portion of the channel energy response;
position and scale a mask with the first identified peak;
compare at least a portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the first identified peak; and
determine an earliest arrival path based, at least in part, on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the first identified peak.
11. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:
(i) identify, based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask, a next peak, wherein the next identified peak comprises a maximum value of a next portion of the channel energy response and occurs at an earlier time than an earlier identified peak and rises above the mask as positioned and scaled with the earlier identified peak;
(ii) position and scale the mask with the next identified peak; and
(iii) compare at least a portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the next identified peak;
wherein determining the earliest arrival path is further based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the next identified peak.
12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processing unit is further configured to repeat (i), (ii), and (iii) until no additional peaks rise above the mask as positioned and scaled with a most recently-identified peak.
13. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:
identify a noise threshold; and
compare at least a portion of the channel energy response with the noise threshold;
wherein determining the earliest arrival path is further based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the noise threshold.
14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:
determine an expected aliased term; and
adjust at least a portion of the noise threshold based on the determined expected alias term.
15. The mobile device of claim 10, wherein the processing unit is further configured to select the mask from a plurality of masks based on one or more characteristics of the channel energy response.
16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the one or more characteristics of the channel energy response includes a power level of a portion of the channel energy response.
17. An apparatus comprising:
means for capturing a channel energy response;
means for identifying a first peak in the channel energy response, the first identified peak comprising a maximum value of a first portion of the channel energy response;
means for positioning and scaling a mask with the first identified peak;
means for comparing at least a portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the first identified peak; and
means for determining an earliest arrival path based, at least in part, on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the first identified peak.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising means for:
(i) identifying, based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask, a next peak, the next identified peak comprising a maximum value of a next portion of the channel energy response, wherein the next identified peak occurs at an earlier time than an earlier identified peak and rises above the mask as positioned and scaled with the earlier identified peak;
(ii) positioning and scaling the mask with the next identified peak; and
(iii) comparing at least a portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the next identified peak;
wherein determining the earliest arrival path is further based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the mask as positioned and scaled with the next identified peak.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the means for performing (i), (ii), and (iii) are configured to repeat (i), (ii), and (iii) until no additional peaks rise above the mask as positioned and scaled with a most recently-identified peak
20. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:
means for identifying a noise threshold; and
means for comparing at least a portion of the channel energy response with the noise threshold;
wherein determining the earliest arrival path is further based on the comparison of the at least the portion of the channel energy response with the noise threshold.