Author: claimsbot

1. A process for applying an image on a surface of a resin member, comprising:
first, placing a liquid coating resin and a catalyst for the liquid coating resin on a smooth table or mold surface for defining a smooth image topcoat, the smooth image topcoat having a smooth front surface formed by the smooth table or mold surface;
after the coating resin has at least partially polymerized enough so that the coating resin is substantially solid, while the coating resin remains tacky, and before the smooth image topcoat has fully cured, but the smooth image topcoat substantially retains its shape, placing a transfer medium bearing an image on a rear surface of the smooth image topcoat, opposite the smooth front surface;
establishing contact between the image and the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat;
once contact between the image and the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat has been established, at least partially curing the smooth image topcoat at substantially ambient temperature and substantially ambient pressure with the image of the transfer medium in contact with the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat to bond the image to the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat;
after the image has bonded to the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat and before fully curing the coating resin of the smooth image topcoat, removing the transfer medium from the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat to expose the image; and
with the image exposed, applying a liquid substrate resin onto the image to form a substrate, with the image located between the smooth image topcoat and the substrate.
2. The process of claim 1, further comprising:
placing another transfer medium bearing a second image into contact with the smooth front surface of the smooth image topcoat;
bonding the image to the smooth front surface of the smooth image topcoat at the substantially ambient temperature and pressure; and
removing the transfer medium from the smooth front surface to substantially transfer the second image to the smooth image topcoat.
3. The process of claim 1, further comprising:
printing the image onto the transfer medium.
4. The process of claim 3, wherein printing comprises defining the image from an ink.
5. The process of claim 4, wherein defining the image from the ink comprises defining the image from an organic solvent-based ink including a colored pigment.
6. The process of claim 3, wherein printing comprises defining the image from a dye.
7. The process of claim 6, wherein defining the image from the dye comprises defining the image from an organic solvent-based dye.
8. The process of claim 1, further comprising editing the image with a computer before placing the image on the transfer medium.
9. The process of claim 1, wherein the transfer medium is flexible.
10. The process of claim 1, wherein the transfer medium comprises coated paper, uncoated paper, vinyl, fabric, or polymeric film.
11. The process of claim 1, wherein the image is transferred to the adjacent surface of the resin layer by chemical absorption as the substrate solidifies.
12. The process of claim 1, wherein the liquid resin includes a hardening agent.
13. The process of claim 1 wherein the liquid resin is a member selected from polyesters, phenolic mixtures, melamine formaldehyde, unsaturated polyesters, vinyl esters, epoxies, cross-linkable acrylics, polyurethane, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene, nylon, polystyrenq poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA or acrylics), and polycarbonates, and mixtures thereof.
14. A process for applying an image on a surface of a resin member, comprising:
providing a partially cured topcoat for an image disposed within a mold, the partially cured topcoat being substantially solid and cured enough to substantially retain its shape, the mold comprising a table or mold surface with a framework around it for shaping the topcoat for an image, the topcoat for an image including a rear surface and an outer surface opposite from the rear surface and having a texture defined by the table or mold surface;
after providing the partially cured topcoat for an image, placing an image disposed on one side of a first transfer medium into contact with the rear surface of the topcoat for an image while material of the topcoat for an image at the rear surface is partially cured and tacky;
with the image in place on the rear surface of the topcoat for an image, further curing the topcoat for an image while simultaneously bonding the image to the rear surface of the topcoat for an image, the further curing and the simultaneously bonding occurring at substantially ambient temperature and substantially ambient pressure to further define the topcoat for an image, the image and the rear surface of the topcoat for an image configured to be secured to a substrate; and
removing the first transfer medium from the rear surface of the topcoat before fully curing material of the partially cured topcoat for an image.
15. The process of claim 14, wherein the topcoat for an image comprises a polymeric resin with a filler to form a substrate.
16. The process of claim 14, wherein the topcoat for an image is a clear resin.
17. The process of claim 16, further comprising forming a polymeric substrate in the mold with the topcoat for an image.
18. The process of claim 14, further comprising providing a second transfer medium with a second image on one side of the second transfer medium, and placing the one side of the second transfer medium on a second side of the topcoat for an image.
19. The process of claim 18, further comprising stripping the second transfer medium from the topcoat for an image after the liquid resin has substantially cured.
20. The process of claim 14, wherein further curing the topcoat for an image comprises chemical cross-linking.
21. The process of claim l, wherein further curing the smooth image topcoat comprises chemical cross-linking.
22. A process for applying an image on a surface of a resin member, comprising:
first, placing a transfer medium with an image on one side thereof on a tacky rear surface of a partially cured coating resin in a mold that is substantially solid and has cured enough to substantially retain its shape, wherein the mold comprises a smooth table or mold surface with a framework around it to define a mold area, for containing and shaping the coating resin into a smooth image topcoat with a smooth front surface formed by the smooth table or mold surface and so that the image on the transfer medium is in contact with a rear surface of the smooth image topcoat;
after the image on the transfer medium is in contact with the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat, further curing the partially cured coating resin at substantially ambient temperature and substantially ambient pressure to further define the smooth image topcoat and to bond the image to the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat;
with the image bonded to the rear surface of the smooth image topcoat and before the partially cured coating resin of the smooth image topcoat is fully cured, removing the transfer medium from the smooth image topcoat; and
removing the smooth image topcoat from the mold, a smoothness of the smooth front surface of the smooth image topcoat being defined by the smooth table or mold surface.
23. A process for applying an image on a surface of a resin member, comprising:
first, placing a liquid coating resin in a mold, the mold comprising a table or mold surface with a framework around the table or mold surface for defining a mold area, and for shaping an image topcoat while curing the liquid coating resin;
with the coating resin in the mold, partially curing the coating resin to form the image topcoat;
before the coating resin of the resin member has fully cured, but after the coating resin is substantially solid and is cured enough to substantially retain its shape, placing an image carried by a transfer medium into contact with a tacky rear surface defining an image side of the image topcoat;
while maintaining the image in contact with the image side of the image topcoat, further curing the coating resin to bond the image to the image side of the image topcoat;
once the image has bonded to the image side of the image topcoat, and before the liquid coating resin of the image topcoat is fully cured, removing the transfer film from the image and from the image side of the image topcoat, the image substantially remaining on the image side of the image topcoat; and
after removing the transfer film, applying a substrate over the image side of the image topcoat and securing the substrate to the image before the liquid coating resin of the image topcoat is fully cured to form an image-bearing panel, a front surface of the image-bearing panel being defined by the resin member, a front surface of the image-bearing panel having a texture defined by the table surface of the mold.
24. The process of claim 23, wherein the framework comprises tape, adhesive strips, or metal bars.
25. The process of claim 23, wherein the framework comprises a height of about 35-40 mils above the table surface.
26. The process of claim 23, wherein the table or mold surface comprises glass.
27. The process claim 23, wherein the table or mold surface comprises a textured material.
28. The process of claim 23, wherein the table or mold surface is partitioned.
29. The process of claim 14 wherein the framework comprises tape, adhesive strips, or metal bars.
30. The process of claim 14 wherein the framework comprises a height of about 35-40 mils above the table surface.
31. The process of claim 14 wherein the table surface comprises glass.
32. The process of claim 14 wherein the table surface comprises a textured material.
33. The process of claim 14 wherein the table surface is partitioned.
34. The process of claim 22 wherein the framework comprises tape or adhesive strips.
35. The process of claim 22 wherein the framework comprises a height of about 35-40 mils above the table surface of the mold.
36. The process of claim 22 wherein the table surface of the mold is partitioned.
37. The process of claim 23 wherein the framework comprises tape or adhesive strips.
38. The process of claim 23 wherein the framework extends a height of about 35-40 mils above the table surface of the mold.
39. The process of claim 23 wherein the table surface of the mold is partitioned.
40. The process of claim 1, further comprising:
forming or defining the image on a surface of the transfer medium.
41. The process of claim 40, wherein defining the image comprises defining the image from an ink.
42. The process of claim 41, wherein defining the image comprises defining the image from a solvent-based ink or from an aqueous-based ink.
43. The process of claim 41, wherein defining the image comprises defining the image from a dye ink or from a pigment ink.
44. The process of claim 41, wherein defining the image from the ink comprises defining the image from a solvent-based pigment inkjet ink, a solvent-based dye inkjet ink, an aqueous-based pigment inkjet ink, an aqueous-based dye inkjet ink, a dye diffusion thermal transfer ink, a chemical toner, or a thermal wax transfer ink.
45. The process of claim 14, wherein the texture of the outer surface of the topcoat for an image is smooth or textured.
46. The process of claim 23, wherein the texture of the front surface of the image-bearing panel is smooth or textured.

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 wall mountable urinal comprising:
a) an upright bowl having a bottom drain,
b) a misting water jet connected to a water supply and that is positioned centrally above said bowl, wherein said jet is designed to spray misting water onto said bowl’s entire upright surface during and after use,
c) an electric solenoid valve that controls the water flow into said misting water jet,
d) an electric sensor that detects a user’s presence when the user is adjacent said urinal, at which time said sensor produces an electrical signal that activates said electric solenoid valve, and
e) a capped vertical standpipe that is connected between the electric solenoid valve and the input to said misting water jet, wherein said standpipe provides a selected amount of water backed by trapped pressure in the upper volume of the standpipe that provides a decreasing flow of rinsing water to terminate the water flow after the urinal is used.
2. The wall mountable urinal as specified in claim 1 wherein said misting water jet is comprised of a standard commercial mist spray jet that incorporates a filter.
3. The wall mountable urinal as specified in claim 1 wherein said upright bowl has a hemispherical shape having an inner surface, an outer surface, an upper edge and wherein the bottom drain is attached to the lowest portion of said bowl.

1. A method for amplitude modulation in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
oversampling, within a single integrated circuit device, each of a plurality of samples in a baseband signal;
reducing a number of bits in each of said oversampled plurality of samples so as to cause, based on a generated pseudo random bit sequence, displacement of quantization noise that occurred as a result of said oversampling; and
low-pass filtering within said single integrated circuit device, a subsequent signal comprising said reduced number of bits.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of samples in said baseband signal comprises an M-bit binary data word, that is converted to at least one of a plurality of K signal levels where K and M represent numbers, wherein said value of K is less than 2M.
3. The method according to claim 2, comprising generating said subsequent signal comprising a current one of said plurality of K signal levels, followed by a zero signal level, followed by a subsequent one of said plurality of K signal levels.
4. The method according to claim 3, comprising converting each of said at least one of said plurality of K signal levels to a corresponding N-bit binary data word, wherein N represents a number.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein one of: a lowest and a highest, value for said N-bit binary data word corresponds to one of: a highest and a lowest, value for one of said plurality of K signal levels.
6. The method according to claim 4, wherein a value for said N-bit binary data word that is greater than a lowest value and less than a highest value for said N-bit binary data word corresponds to a value for one of said plurality of K signal levels that is greater than a lowest level and less than a highest level for said one of said plurality of K signal levels.
7. The method according to claim 4, comprising generating switching control bits based on said N-bit binary data word and bits generated based on said generated pseudo random bit sequence.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said switching control bits are differentially encoded.
9. The method according to claim 8, comprising selecting one of said plurality of K signal levels based on values for positive polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits.
10. The method according to claim 8, comprising generating a zero signal level based on values for negative polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits.
11. The method according to claim 8, comprising generating said subsequent signal comprising one of said plurality of K signal levels based on current values for positive polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits, followed by a zero signal level based on values for negative polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits, followed by a subsequent one of said plurality of K signal levels based on subsequent values for said positive polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said current values for said positive polarity bits are binary complements to corresponding subsequent values for said positive polarity bits based on said generated pseudo random bit sequence.
13. A system for amplitude modulation in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
one or more circuits within a single integrated circuit device that enable oversampling of each of a plurality of samples in a baseband signal;
said one or more circuits enable reduction of a number of bits in each of said oversampled plurality of samples so as to cause, based on a generated pseudo random bit sequence, displacement of quantization noise that occurred as a result of said oversampling; and
said one or more circuits enable low-pass filtering of a subsequent signal comprising said reduced number of bits.
14. The system according to claim 13, wherein each of said plurality of samples in said baseband signal comprises an M-bit binary data word, that is converted to at least one of a plurality of K signal levels where K and M represent numbers, wherein said value of K is less than 2M.
15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said one or more circuits enable generation of said subsequent signal comprising a current one of said plurality of K signal levels, followed by a zero signal level, followed by a subsequent one of said plurality of K signal levels.
16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said one or more circuits enable conversion of each of said at least one of said plurality of K signal levels to a corresponding N-bit binary data word, wherein N represents a number.
17. The system according to claim 16, wherein one of: a lowest and a highest, value for said N-bit binary data word corresponds to one of: a highest and a lowest, value for one of said plurality of K signal levels.
18. The system according to claim 16, wherein a value for said N-bit binary data word that is greater than a lowest value and less than a highest value for said N-bit binary data word corresponds to a value for one of said plurality of K signal levels that is greater than a lowest level and less than a highest level for said one of said plurality of K signal levels.
19. The system according to claim 16, wherein said one or more circuits enable generation of switching control bits based on said N-bit binary data word and bits generated based on said generated pseudo random bit sequence.
20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said switching control bits are differentially encoded.
21. The system according to claim 20, wherein said one or more circuits enable selection of one of said plurality of K signal levels based on values for positive polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits.
22. The system according to claim 20, wherein said one or more circuits enable generation of a zero signal level based on values for negative polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits.
23. The system according to claim 20, wherein said one or more circuits enable generation of said subsequent signal comprising one of said plurality of K signal levels based on current values for positive polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits, followed by a zero signal level based on values for negative polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits, followed by a subsequent one of said plurality of K signal levels based on subsequent values for said positive polarity bits in said differentially encoded switching control bits.
24. The system according to claim 23, wherein said current values for said positive polarity bits are binary complements to corresponding subsequent values for said positive polarity bits based on said generated pseudo random bit sequence.

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 method for the single rejection of defective items, in particular single strip packages, during transferring from a packaging line to a conveying line, the items being moved on said packaging line by driving means, the method including the following operation steps:
checking the integrity of each product present on said packaging line by corresponding feeler means associated to said packaging line;
removably gripping every tested strip package by transfer means provided at the end of the packaging line and arranged so as to determine a pick-up position;
operating said transfer means for moving said products away from said packaging line;
releasing, by said transfer means; at least one of defective-tested products in at least one first collection section, situated near said packaging line, in step relation with the motion of the transfer means;
positioning of each entire-tested strip package onto the conveying line with the transfer means situated in a release position.
2. A method, according to claim 1, further including, after a first releasing of single defective-tested products, in said first collection section, a second releasing is performed by said transfer means of other single defective-tested strip packages into a second collection section, situated near said first collection section, in step relation with the motion of said transfer means.
3. A method, according to claim 2 wherein said defective-tested products, released by said transfer means are conveyed, by the effect of gravity, to said collection sections.
4. A method, according to claim 1, further including, after a first releasing of defective-tested products in said first collection section, a plurality of further releasing steps is performed by said transfer means of other single defective-tested products into a plurality of further collection sections, situated near said first collection section, in step relation with the motion of said transfer means.
5. A method, according to claim 4, wherein said defective-tested products, released by said transfer means are conveyed, by the effect of gravity, to said collection sections.
6. A method, according to claim 1, wherein said step of positioning each entire-tested product onto said conveying line by said transfer means, includes:
a preliminary release, by said transfer means, of said products onto a stand-by line, situated near said feeding line;
a subsequent release of said products, by said stand-by line, in a differentiated way and according to predetermined configurations, onto underlying conveying means, substantially parallel to said stand-by line.
7. A method, according to claim 6, further including feeding of a packaging machine with the articles, after the latter have been released onto said conveying means.
8. A method, according to claim 1, wherein said transfer means include:
gripping means, operated by at least one driving shaft, substantially parallel to said conveying line, and moved, in step relation with said packaging line, from a pick-up position, in which gripping means pick-up tested products in output from the packaging line, to a release position, in which the gripping means release the entire-tested products onto the conveying line, said released products being regularly spaced apart by a predetermined distance with respect to said pick-up position; control means associated to said gripping means, aimed at allowing the entire-tested products, regularly spaced apart by a predetermined distance with respect to the pick-up position, to be released at the release position.
9. A method, according to claim 8, wherein suction elements are associated to each gripping member for removably gripping said products, said suction elements being individually and independently, set in communication with a vacuum source, so as to grip andor release the products in step relation with the motion of said driving shaft.
10. A method, according to claim 8, wherein said products are picked-up by said transfer means, from said packaging line, in substantially vertical configurations, and are released onto said conveying line in substantially horizontal configurations.
11. A method, according to claim 1, wherein that each of said products is contained in a corresponding heat-sealed pocket made in a continuous band formed by a predetermined number of longitudinal and cross rows of said pockets.
12. A method, according to claim 11, further including, in step relation with the check of the integrity of each product contained in a corresponding heat-sealed pocket, the following corresponding steps:
printing andor coding of data andor information onto each heat-sealed pocket by first and second means associated to said packaging line;
cross pre-cutting of said continuous band at portions comprised between adjacent cross rows by pre-breaking units associated to said packaging line;
longitudinal cutting of said continuous band at portions comprised between adjacent longitudinal rows by first cutting units associated to said packaging line;
cross cutting of said continuous band at portions comprised between adjacent cross rows by second cutting units associated to said packaging line, so as to provide a plurality of strip packages with a predetermined longitudinal and cross format in output from said packaging line.