A system and method of painting parts of large dimensions that present a certain amount of flexibility that makes their shape geometrically unstable in the event of being moved. The surface of a part is moved in front of a paint spray device by an arm of a robot, while the spray device remains stationary relative to the robot and while the part is being deformed. Other elements include a gripper for gripping parts of large dimensions, the gripper being adapted to implement the method; an installation; and a booth for performing surface treatment of parts.

A support disk fixing apparatus which includes an upper surface to which a wafer is bonded, a lower surface, a cylindrical side surface between the upper surface and the lower surface, and a chamfered portion between the upper surface and the side surface, includes a base upon which the support disk is placed; and a fixture that is provided on the base, and that has a first surface that abuts against the side surface of the support disk and covers the side surface of the support disk, and a second surface that abuts against the chamfered portion of the support disk and covers the chamfered portion of the support disk.

The bonding apparatus is capable of effectively increasing temperature of a substrate and reducing occurrence of position gaps and poor connection in a process of flip-chip-bonding semiconductor devices to the substrate. The bonding apparatus comprises: a supporting unit for supporting the substrate, on which the semiconductor devices have been adhered by a non-conductive; and a heating/pressing unit for heating and pressing the substrate, the heating/pressing unit having a built-in heat source and a clamping face, onto which the substrate supported by the supporting unit is pressed. The substrate supported by the supporting unit is moved toward the clamping face of the heating/pressing unit so as to preheat the substrate and the semiconductor devices by radiation heat. Then, the semiconductor devices are pressed onto the clamping face of the heating/pressing unit so as to cure the non-conductive adhesive and bond bumps of the semiconductor devices to terminal sections of the substrate.

An apparatus for supporting a workpiece during processing of the workpiece is disclosed. The apparatus comprises: a chassis having a vacuum chamber that is connectable to a vacuum source; a supporting device rotatable relative to the chassis, the supporting device having a hollow compartment and a supporting surface for holding the workpiece; and at least one sealing device arranged between the chassis and the supporting device, to provide an air-tight seal between the chassis and the supporting device while allowing for rotation of the supporting device with respect to the chassis, so as to form a vacuum passage extending from the supporting surface of the supporting device through the hollow compartment of the supporting device and the vacuum chamber of the chassis to the vacuum source, to thereby hold the workpiece to the supporting surface of the supporting device during processing of the workpiece.

A turbine component repair apparatus includes: a first die having male and female halves for clamping a first section of a turbine blade with a platform and a root portion of an airfoil, the first die having a recess shaped to receive the root portion and retain a faying surface thereof in predetermined alignment; and a second die having male and female halves for clamping a repair section which defines a tip portion of the airfoil, the second die having a second recess shaped to receive the tip portion and retain a faying surface of the tip portion in predetermined alignment. The first and second dies have mating front faces configured to align their bottom surfaces in a common plane. A alignment device is removably attached to the second die to temporarily align the repair section in the absence of the male half of the second die.

A workpiece support, including: first and second arms pivotably connected to first and second support members respectively, the first and second support members being spaced apart, each arm including first and second receiving members for receiving the workpiece, the first and second receiving members being provided at first and second ends of each arm respectively, wherein each arm is pivotably connected to the respective first and second support members at a point between the first and second ends of each arm, such that a workpiece may be supported by the first and second receiving members of the first arm and the first and second receiving members of the second arm.

A panel jig apparatus is provided which has first moving units that are respectively installed at the left and right sides of a base frame, and selectively reciprocate a first sliding plate provided on top of the base frame leftward and rightward on the base frame. Likewise, the second moving units are respectively installed at the front and rear sides of the base frame, and selectively reciprocate a second sliding plate provided on top of the base frame forward and rearward on the base frame. The first support units are movable leftward and rightward on the base frame by the respective first sliding plates, and movable upward and downward by an ascending and descending means so as to support a panel. The second support units are movable forward and rearward on the base frame by the second sliding plates, and provided to support the panel.

A rocking jaw gripper for restraining tubulars including an arm with a rocking jaw gripper rocker jaw, a rocking jaw gripper frame connected with the arm, a locking pin connecting the rocking jaw gripper frame to the chain cylinder, a hinge pin connecting the rocking jaw gripper frame to the arm and a plate jaw fastener retaining the rocker jaw body between the top plate and the bottom plate by engaging the tail hole of the rocker jaw body. When the rocking jaw gripper is engaged, it acts to restrain the movement of a tubular during make-up and break-out.

A support structure for supporting a semiconductor device during a bonding operation is provided. The support structure comprises a body portion defining an upper surface configured to support a semiconductor device during a bonding operation. The upper surface defines a constraining feature for constraining at least a portion of the semiconductor device during the bonding operation.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming part including a recording head to form an image on a recording medium, a conveyance mechanism disposed opposite the image forming part to convey the recording medium, and a cover closably openable relative to a body of the image forming apparatus and disposed opposite the conveyance mechanism with the image forming part interposed therebetween. The recording head is detachably attachable to the cover and is configured to move away from the conveyance mechanism when the cover is opened.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a conveyer configured to convey a recording medium along a conveying path in a conveying direction, an image forming unit configured to form an image on the recording medium being conveyed, a supporting member arranged in a position to face the image forming unit and configured to support the recording medium, and an aspirator configured to aspirate dust through an aspiration inlet, which is formed in a downstream position along the conveying direction with respect to the image forming unit and in proximity to a downstream end of the supporting member.

The present invention addresses the problem of improving the quality of recorded images in ink jet recording technologies in which a plurality of nozzle lines that discharge ink of the same color are used. As a solution, nozzle lines (10) of n columns (where n is a natural number of three or more) each record a recording pixel column (2) on a recording medium by discharging ink of the same color while scanning over the recording medium (1); and when the nozzle lines (10) of n columns each extract a recording pixel column (2), which is recorded in a single scan, for each n columns in the scanning direction, ink is discharged in such a manner that there are at least two permutation patterns for the nozzle columns (10) that record each column of the extracted recording pixel columns (3).

A full-line printhead includes a base in which a plurality of substrates each including arrayed print elements are arranged in the arrayed direction has the following arrangement. The base includes a terminal for inputting a first differential signal, a first pair of lines for transferring the first differential signal from the terminal to the substrates, a terminal for inputting a second differential signal, and a second pair of lines for transferring the second differential signal from the terminal to the substrates. Each substrate includes a first amplifier for amplifying the first differential signal transferred via the first pair of lines, and a second amplifier for amplifying the second differential signal transferred via the second pair of lines. Control is performed to change the gain of the first amplifier based on a control signal from outside.

A liquid ejecting head includes: a nozzle plate formed with a plurality of nozzle orifices; a drive unit configured to apply pressure vibration to pressure generating chambers communicating to the plurality of nozzle orifices; and a head casing including the drive unit and having a surface opposed to the nozzle plate. The plurality of nozzle orifices defines a first nozzle array group and a second nozzle array group which are staggered, and the surface has a first recess and a second recess which are staggered.

An ink supply reservoir, and method of supplying ink, is described.

A liquid container includes a liquid which generates gases over time due to a chemical change in components; a liquid storage chamber in which the liquid is stored; a liquid flow port which communicates with the liquid storage chamber, via which the liquid inside the storage chamber flows out; and an information holding portion which holds time information on manufacturing of the liquid container.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes: a head including: a reservoir tank; an inlet opening; and ejection openings; an air-discharge passage for discharging air from the reservoir tank to an outside; a first sucking device for sucking air from the reservoir tank via the air-discharge passage; a semipermeable membrane dividing a space in the reservoir tank and the air-discharge passage, into a reservoir-tank-side space and a first-sucking-device-side space and allowing communication of the air and inhibiting communication of liquid between the reservoir-tank-side space and the first-sucking-device-side space; and a first valve mechanism dividing the reservoir-tank-side space into a first space on a semipermeable-membrane side and a second space on an inlet-opening side, inhibiting fluid from flowing from the first space to the second space, and allowing fluid to flow from the second space to the first space. The first space is located above the ejection openings.

A liquid cartridge is detachably attachable to an apparatus body of an image forming apparatus. The liquid cartridge includes a cartridge case, an information memory element, and a holding unit. The cartridge case includes at least two dividable case parts. The at least two dividable case parts form a front face of the cartridge case to face the apparatus body when the liquid cartridge is attached to the apparatus body. An information memory element is held at the front face of the cartridge case. The holding unit is provided in one of the at least two dividable case parts to hold the information memory element with only the one of the at least two dividable case parts. The holding unit includes a groove to receive the information memory element and a displaceable claw to hold the information memory element between the groove and the claw.

A printing apparatus adapted to have a cartridge detachably mounted thereon includes a cartridge mounting structure, a printing material supply tube, a plurality of apparatus-side terminals and a lever used for attachment and detachment of the cartridge to and from the printing apparatus. The lever has an operating member, a first apparatus-side locking portion and an axis of rotation. When an external force is applied to the operating member of the lever from the +X-axis direction to the −X-axis direction, the lever moves the first apparatus-side locking portion about the axis of rotation from a specified locking position toward the +X-axis direction and disengages the first apparatus-side locking portion from a first cartridge-side restriction portion, so as to eliminate the restriction of motion of the cartridge. This ensures stable electrical connection between cartridge-side terminals and apparatus-side terminals.

A cartridge comprises an ink supply structure, a terminal bearing structure, and a first restriction portion. The terminal bearing structure has terminals arranged in a terminal plane which is neither parallel nor perpendicular to a plane defined by a mounting direction leading edge of the ink supply structure, so that the contact portions of the terminals receive a force in a direction opposite from the mounting direction. An engagement portion of the first restriction portion is provided at a position adjacent to the terminal bearing structure.

There are provided an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which can shorten a drying time of inks in an edge region of an image, and can form a sharp image without bleeding of the ink applied onto the edge region into a blank paper. The image processing method generates applying data for forming an image on a print medium by a relative scan between print heads for ejecting a first ink and a second ink having the same color with the first ink and lower in surface tension than the first ink, and the print medium. The image processing method generates first data for applying the first ink to a predetermined region that is adjacent to an edge region of the image and that is included in an inside region inward of the edge region, and generates second data for applying the second ink to the edge region.

An image recording apparatus includes: a nozzle that discharges electromagnetic wave curable ink that is cured when an electromagnetic wave is irradiated onto a recording medium; and an irradiator for irradiating the electromagnetic wave, wherein a filter that transmits the electromagnetic wave is provided on the irradiator, and the filter has a first transmittance that causes the electromagnetic wave curable ink on the recording medium to be curable with respect to an electromagnetic wave that is incident at a first angle and a second transmittance that maintains a state in which the nozzle can discharge the electromagnetic wave curable ink with respect to an electromagnetic wave that is incident at a second angle.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes: (a) a storage device for storing an image data set representing a plurality of images; (b) a liquid ejection head for performing an image formation on each recording medium; (c) a curl reduction device for reducing curl caused in each recording medium having the corresponding image formed thereon by the liquid ejection head; (d) an output tray for receiving each recording medium whose curl has been reduced by the curl reduction device, such that the received recording media are stacked on the output tray; and (e) a control device configured to control the curl reduction device, such that the curl caused in an earlier one of the recording media is reduced by a smaller degree than the curl caused in a later one of the recording media that has been subjected to the image formation later than the earlier one of the recording media.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in a medium conveyance apparatus which securely supports and conveys a medium, by providing a function for applying a back tension to the medium, in a guide section which forms a guide for supporting the medium in a medium conveyance unit, it is possible to apply a back tension to the medium of which at least a portion is securely supported by the medium conveyance unit, thereby restricting the occurrence of creasing and floating when the medium is securely supported by the medium conveyance unit and maintaining the flatness of the medium which is securely supported by the medium conveyance unit.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head which ejects liquid toward a recording medium; a rib which projects in a direction toward the liquid ejecting head, and includes a support portion for supporting the recording medium; a detection target portion which is provided at a position lower than the support portion; a lower side portion located at a position lower than the detection target portion; a light emitting unit which irradiates the detection target portion with light rays; a light receiving unit which receives reflected light rays resulting from reflection of the light rays with which the detection target portion is irradiated, convers the received reflected light rays into photocurrent, and outputs the photocurrent as an output voltage; and a sensitivity setting unit which causes the light emitting unit to irradiate the detection target portion with light rays and sets the sensitivity of the light receiving unit.

A recording apparatus includes: a transporting roller which includes a cylindrical shaft having one joint from one end portion to the other end portion of the shaft and transports a recording medium by being driven to rotate; a driven roller which holds and transports the recording medium with the transporting roller; and a recording section which performs recording on the recording medium, in which the joint includes a plurality of protrusion sections which protrude in a direction intersecting with an axial direction of the transporting roller, in which the plurality of protrusion sections are disposed in positions which do not come into contact with both end portions of the recording medium in the axial direction of the cylindrical shaft.

A printing apparatus includes a housing, a carriage in which a print head is mounted, the carriage moving inside the housing, and an openable cover provided for the housing. A restricting member configured to restrict movement of the carriage during transport of the printing apparatus is attachable to the printing apparatus. While the restricting member is attached to the apparatus, the restricting member engages with the carriage, the cover in a closed position, and the housing and part of the restricting member is exposed outside of the cover in the closed position. When the part is pulled, the restricting member disengages from the carriage, the cover, and the housing and is detached from the apparatus.

In accordance with one embodiment, a duplex printer apparatus comprises a first printing section configured to use an inkjet mechanism for carrying out printing on a first surface of a paper wound in a roll shape; a second printing section configured to be arranged at the downstream side of the first printing section in a paper conveyance direction and use a thermal printing mechanism for carrying out printing on a second surface serving as the back side of the first surface of the paper; and a heat amount changing section configured to change, according to the difference of printing by the first printing section, a driving condition of the thermal printing mechanism when the second printing section applies heat to a paper.

The invention relates to a marking apparatus (10) for marking an object comprising a marking head (20) having a plurality of marking devices (40, 40a, 40b) for applying a marking on the object and a driving mechanism for providing a relative movement of the object relative to the marking head in an advance direction (16) during a marking operation. The marking head comprises in addition to the plurality of marking devices a plurality of sensor devices and the sensor devices (50) are arranged down-stream of the marking devices in the advance direction, so that the marking applied by the marking devices is detectable by the sensor devices, when the object is moved relative to the marking head in the advance direction. The invention also relates to a method for marking an object.

An optical writing controller that controls a light source to expose a photoconductor and forms an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor calculates a correction value for correcting a superimposing position where the developed images for different colors developing each of the electrostatic latent images formed on each of the multiple photoconductors are superimposed based on the detection signal output by a pattern detection sensor that detects a pattern for correcting the superimposing position, controls the multiple light sources to draw a predetermined pattern repeatedly in the sub-scanning direction so that stepwise patterns whose width in the main scanning direction varies with repetition are formed, and determines the width in the main scanning direction of the patterns for correcting based on the strength of the detection signal output by the pattern detection sensor.

An image forming apparatus including a control unit configured to cause the light irradiation unit to irradiate the photosensitive member at an image forming portion to which toner particles adhere with light emitted from the light source by a first light emission amount, and cause the light irradiation unit to irradiate the photosensitive member at a non-image forming portion to which no toner particles adhere with light emitted from the light source by a second light emission amount that is smaller than the first light emission amount. The image forming apparatus further includes an adjusting unit configured to adjust the first light emission amount and the second light emission amount, and an acquisition unit configured to acquire information relating to a speed of surface of the photosensitive member. The adjusting unit is configured to change the second light emission amount according to information acquired by the acquisition unit.

An optical scanning device includes: a driving unit that drives a light source that outputs multiple light beams; a deflecting unit that scans a scanning surface in a main-scanning direction by deflecting the light beams, the scanning surface moving at a predetermined line speed in a sub-scanning direction; and a control unit that changes number of the light beams according to the line speed by controlling the driving unit, changes a scanning speed of the deflecting unit in the main-scanning direction according to a difference between an exposure amount per unit length in the main-scanning direction after a change in the number of the light beams and a predetermined exposure amount, and changes light intensity of each of the light beams output by the light source according to an amount of a change in the scanning speed.

A laser scanning unit includes a laser light source, rotating polygon mirror, drive motor, and entry detection, intensity detection, intensity adjustment, and drive control portions. The laser light source radiates first and second laser lights in first second directions, respectively. The drive motor rotates the polygon mirror reflecting the first laser light. The intensity adjustment portion adjusts the first laser light in accordance with the second laser light detected by the intensity detection portion, until a second time after a first time has elapsed since the first laser light entry detection by the entry detection portion. The drive control portion, upon adjustment by the intensity adjustment portion, drives the drive motor at a first rotation speed, wherein a return light entry timing is included within the first time or from when the second time has elapsed to the timing of the entry detection portion detection.

An optical print head, including: a light emitting substrate which includes a light emitting element on a base; a rod lens array which focuses light emitted from the light emitting element onto an image carrier, the rod lens array having a larger linear expansion coefficient than the base of the light emitting substrate; and expansion suppressing members which are attached to both lateral surfaces of the rod lens array in a direction that is perpendicular to an optical axis direction and is a shorter direction, each of the expansion suppressing members having a smaller linear expansion coefficient than the rod lens array.

A liquid ejecting head comprises a pressure generation chamber communicating with a nozzle opening, a vibrating wall provided as one surface of the pressure generation chamber and vibrates so that ejects the liquid from the nozzle opening, and a resin portion having a recessed arc-shape and formed in a corner of the pressure generation chamber and formed of a resin material having a Young's modulus of less than or equal to 10 GPa. A ratio r/w of a radius r of the surface of the resin portion to a width w of the pressure generation chamber defined by the vibrating wall is greater than or equal to 0.017 and less than or equal to 0.087.

A piezoelectric element comprises a piezoelectric layer made of a perovskite compound containing sodium, potassium, lithium, niobium and tantalum and bismuth manganate and electrodes for applying a voltage to the piezoelectric layer.

A method for calibrating (700) an antenna array comprises a plurality of antenna elements coupled to a plurality of respective receive paths in a wireless communication system. The method comprises, in receive mode, applying a test signal to an individual single receive path (715) of the plurality of receive paths; and feeding back the test signal via a switched coupler network. The method further comprises running a receive calibration measurement routine to determine at least one measurement value used to calibrate the individual signal receive path and waiting for at least one converged measurement value; and extracting (720) the converged measurement value for at least one individual receive path. The steps of applying, running, extracting for a next individual single receive path are repeated until the calibration routine has completed (725). The method further comprises selecting a converged measurement value of at least one individual receive path from a plurality of receive paths (730) to form a reference receiver calibration result (730); normalizing a plurality of at least one measurement values of the plurality of receive paths using the reference receiver calibration result (730); and applying a normalized value to at least one of the plurality of receive paths.

A system and method of identifying changes utilizing radio frequency polarization includes receiving a reflected and/or transmitted polarized radio frequency signal at a receiver, filtering, amplifying and conditioning the received signal, converting the received signal from an analog format to a digital format, processing the digital signal to elicit a polarization mode dispersion feature of the received signal, and comparing the polarization mode dispersion features to a known calibration to detect a change in a characteristic of the target object.

Identification of maximum power scatters in an N-dimensional dataset generally requires two basic steps. The first step is to identify the max power scatters of the dataset and the second step removes neighboring power scatters (e.g., “hits”) of lower power. Current naïve approaches utilize an inefficient and computationally intensive brute force implementation which requires multiple comparisons of each initial “hit” power to all “hits” of lesser power. Such brute force implementations require 2×N×(M−1)! comparisons, where N is the number of dimensions and M is the number of “hits.” Embodiments of the present disclosure utilize vectorization to identify a plurality of neighboring hits for each max power scatter and removes the neighboring hits of lesser power that are within a predetermined isolation region. Advantageously, embodiments of the present invention perform M−1 comparisons.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a radar system is provided which accurately measures the surface profile in a wide sector beneath and forward of a helicopter, to aid low level transit and landing in poor visibility. This uses an electronic beam synthesis technique to form multiple beams directed at the area of interest, each measuring the distance to the first reflected signal received by each beam. These distances represent the profile of the ground and any objects on the ground. A processor then compares the measured profile with the ideal ground profile for safe landing. If the deviations from straight and level exceed the specified requirement for safe landing, or if sufficient rotor clearance is not detected, then a warning is given to the operator. A display will show the measured ground profile highlighting the unsafe regions, allowing the operator to seek a safe region to land. The novelty lies in the way the beams are formed to measure and display the ground profile and provide a warning system. This beam-forming technique is simpler and more cost effective than with a conventional phased array radar.

A signal processing device, which includes an echo signal input module for inputting echo signals from an antenna discharging electromagnetic waves to a predetermined area and receiving the echo signals reflected on a target object, an echo signal level detection module for detecting a level of each of the echo signals from each location within the predetermined area, a target object detection module for detecting the target object based on the levels of the echo signals, a correlation processing module for performing scan-to-scan correlation processing of a plurality of scans, and a level adjustment module for adjusting the levels of the echo signals after the scan-to-scan correlation processing. The level adjustment module adjusts the levels of the echo signals corresponding to the locations where the target object detection module detects the target object.

According to one embodiment, a target tracking apparatus acquires a first determination result by determining which combination of N-dimensional tracks is for the real target, acquires a second determination result by determining which combination of N-dimensional angular observation values is for the real target, selects the first determination result when an observation environment is an environment other than a dense environment, selects the second determination result when the observation environment is a dense environment, and calculates distance information to thereby generate an (N+1)-dimensional track for each target.

An on-board multibeam radar apparatus includes a plurality of beam elements that constitute an antenna transmitting a transmission wave and receiving an incoming wave reflected by and arriving from a target in response to the transmission wave, and a processing unit configured to apply a Fourier transformation to beam element data which are data of a received wave received through the plurality of beam elements based on the number of elements and the element interval of a desired virtual array antenna so as to create virtual array data, and to perform a predetermined process based on the created virtual array data.

The present disclosure concerns a method for post-processing of radar data that uses information of Doppler speed as obtained by coherent processing of the input data, to reduce clutter due to waterbodies, in particular the sea clutter. The present disclosure further concerns a coherent radar provided with means suitable to implement the invention method.

A method for processing return radar waveforms in response to transmitted radar waveforms. The method includes receiving, with a processor, a return radar waveform having a Doppler shift larger than Doppler tolerance. The method also includes separating, with the processor, the return radar waveform into a plurality of shortened waveforms. The method also includes compressing, with the processor, each of the plurality of shortened waveforms with a shortened form of the return radar waveform. The method also includes summing, with the processor, the plurality of compressed, shortened waveforms by computing a Doppler Fourier transform for each radar range bin of the return radar waveform using the plurality of compressed, shortened waveforms.

There is provided a radar receiver that effectively prevents local oscillator signals from leaking out from an antenna. A receiver 21 includes a local oscillator 5, a mixer 6, a buffer amplifier 11, and a mode switcher 16. The local oscillator 5 outputs a local oscillation signal LO. The mixer 6 mixes a high-frequency signal RF received by a radar antenna 2 with the local oscillation signal LO. The buffer amplifier 11 is disposed between the local oscillator 5 and the mixer 6. The mode switcher 16 switches at least between a standby mode in which power is supplied to the local oscillator 5 and no power is supplied to the buffer amplifier 11 and a reception mode in which power is supplied to both the local oscillator 5 and the buffer amplifier 11.

A phased array transmitter includes a plurality of vector modulators, an in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) signal generator, and a multiphase generator. The output phases of the plurality of vector modulators, and hence the direction of transmission of the phased array transmitter, are set and controlled by adjusting both the magnitude ratios of I/Q signal pairs generated by the I/Q signal generator and applied to I and Q inputs of the plurality of vector modulators and phases of a plurality of local oscillator (LO) signal phases generated by the multiphase generator and applied to LO inputs of the plurality of vector modulators. Setting and controlling the output phases of the vector modulators by varying both the magnitude ratios of the I/Q signal pairs and the phases of the LO signal phases allows the output phases of the plurality of vector modulators to be more precisely set and controlled than if the output phases were to be set and controlled only through the LO paths or only through the I/Q signal paths of the plurality of vector modulators.

A lens-based switched beam antenna system including a beam-forming lens, and a beam port router coupled to the beam-forming lens, including a plurality of beam ports, and configured to transmit beams via corresponding ones of the beam ports, wherein a first group of the beam ports corresponds to a first signal, and wherein a second group of the beam ports corresponds to a second signal.

Multi-pattern transmission of frames. The method of operations comprises transmitting a first portion of a frame using a first radiation pattern. The frame comprises one or more preambles and a single data portion associated with the one or more preambles. Thereafter, an operation is conducted to switch the radiation pattern from the first radiation pattern, used to produce the first portion of the frame, to a second radiation pattern. A second portion of the same frame is produced using the second radiation pattern.

A positive response notification to provide information regarding locate and/or marking operations for underground facilities may include time-stamp information to provide proof of a time at which the locate and/or marking operation was completed by a locate technician, and/or place-stamp information to provide proof of a presence of the locate technician at or near a work site. An electronic manifest image and/or a virtual white line image similarly may be included in a positive response notification. In one example, such images may be bundled together based on respective descriptor files (or descriptor metadata) that associates the corresponding images with a locate request ticket for the operation. In another example, a positive response notification may include environmental information regarding one or more environmental conditions present at or near the work site during the locate and/or marking operation.