| [ sciEncE ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): Convex (4ever 0~) 날 짜 (Date): 2002년 9월 9일 월요일 오후 09시 44분 32초 제 목(Title): Patent for a Mirror With Glasses NYT 기사. Patent for a Mirror With Glasses By SABRA CHARTRAND FOR baby boomers, a sure sign of aging is the need to start using reading glasses in their 40's or 50's. Many people suddenly find themselves using bifocals or frequently slipping reading glasses on and off. They can have similar problems when using a mirror. Such people may need glasses to see themselves from any distance, but for a closer look, the lenses must come off. Leon Goldstein and Arthur Dorf realized that this can be a nuisance first thing in the morning, before contact lenses go in, or for any grooming during the day. So the two Illinois inventors patented a small mirror with a prescription corrective lens mounted over it. "It is now possible," they write in their patent, "for each person to have their own custom-made mirror. The visual effect is to see one's image as if glasses were on without having glasses on." To create such a custom mirror, the inventors snap a conventional prescription eyeglass lens onto a mirror about the size of a woman's make-up compact. The prescription comes from an ordinary eye exam to determine the lens strength needed to correct distance vision. "Standard size eyeglass-quality optical lenses are used as most preferred without additional edging or other special effects," the patent says. "The whole system may literally snap together in less than two minutes. Moreover, since the system is modular, its parts do not have to be discarded every time there is a change in a person's refraction. A news lens or mirror may be substituted as necessary." The inventors say the underlying mirror can also be a magnifying mirror, so a user could see enlarged images. The magnification power should be determined by a doctor, they say. By mounting the corrective lens snugly to the mirror, the inventors say they get "corrected vision and ample working room between the eyes and any lenses." They suggest that people applying make-up, shaving, aiming eye drops or searching for a foreign object in the eye might use their compact mirror. They also note that anyone inserting contact lenses could use the prescription mirror to see what they're doing. Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Dorf received patent 6,441,969. Heart rate monitors are usually gauges that have to be strapped on a wrist or across the chest. Harry Linden has patented one that can be worn on eyeglasses. Mr. Linden, an inventor in Santa Barbara, Calif., designed a monitor with sensors that detect the pulse rate in the bridge of the nose. The device can be attached to glasses, a mask or goggles. The monitor comes in a small case that contains a microprocessor and a battery, and can be clipped to the eyewear. Sensing electrodes fit on the glasses' bridge piece. "The sensor is responsive to pressure variations or pulses produced during a heart beat cycle," Mr. Linden says in his patent. A small fiber-optic line leads to an image display that the patent says slips "on the frame or stem of the user's eyewear." The electrodes send an analog signal of the pulse rate to the microprocessor, which then forwards the beats-per-minute to the digital display. The heart rate then appears on a lens that is "mounted on one of the lenses of the eyewear" so a read-out of the wearer's heart rate appears in his line of vision. Mr. Linden received patent 6,431,705. Need to take notes during a phone call? If you're using a cellphone that includes a personal digital assistant, then you may be able to press a "note" button and have most of the information about your call appear automatically. Stephane Maes, Tim Twerdahl, Benoit Vialle and Ryan Robertson have won a patent for Palm Inc., based in Santa Clara, Calif., that creates a note screen on a cellphone that "is pre-populated with information already known about the phone call (number of caller, number dialed, name of caller, name of person called, etc.)." "The user completes the note entry screen, including any notes the user wishes to make regarding the phone call," the patent explains. After a "notes" prompt pops up on the screen, any text would be entered in memo fashion, using the device's stylus or keypad. Once the note and the call are over, the device switches to its address book. If there's no entry for the person called, or if the entry is incomplete, the user can take that opportunity to update the address book. The four inventors won patent 6,442.251. --,--`-<@ 매일 그대와 아침햇살 받으며 매일 그대와 눈을 뜨고파.. 잠이 들고파.. Till the rivers flow up stream | Love is real \|||/ @@@ Till lovers cease to dream | Love is touch @|~j~|@ @^j^@ Till then, I'm yours, be mine | Love is free | ~ | @@ ~ @@ |