Reinforced panels include a layer of glass joined to a substrate to support the glass. Connectors are joined to the side of the substrate opposite the glass to enable the reinforced panel to be configured with and/or attached to a modular wall system. The glass can be backpainted prior to joining to the substrate, and/or a film can be included in the reinforced tile disposed between the glass panel and the substrate. A reinforced panel includes a conductive material disposed between a glass layer and a substrate to form a touch-responsive section. One or more intermediate layers disposed between the glass layer and the substrate are included. The one or more intermediate layers have sufficient elastic deformability so as to enable the reinforced panel to tolerate differences in thermal expansion between the substrate and the glass layer without resulting in cracking of the glass layer.

Methods for singulating an optical waveguide material at a contour include directing a first laser beam onto a first side of the optical waveguide material to generate a first group of perforations in the optical waveguide material. A second laser beam is directed onto a second side of the optical waveguide material to generate a second group of perforations in the optical waveguide material. The second side is opposite the first side. The first group of perforations and the second group of perforations define a perforation zone at the contour. A third laser beam is directed at the perforation zone to singulate the optical waveguide material at the perforation zone.

A method of cutting a combined structure of a glass substrate and a light absorbing plate includes providing a glass substrate on a metal plate, providing a light absorbing material at an edge of the glass substrate, and cutting the glass substrate and the light absorbing plate by irradiating a laser beam to the glass substrate from the edge to which the light absorbing material is provided.

Methods for producing a glass sheet are provided. The methods can include forming a glass ribbon from molten glass, applying a polymer precursor to at least a portion of a first or second major surface of the glass ribbon, curing the polymer precursor to form a polymer coating, and separating the glass ribbon to produce at least one glass sheet. Glass ribbons and glass sheets produced by these methods are also disclosed.

A method is disclosed for dividing a composite material in which a brittle material layer and a resin layer are laminated, including: a resin removing step of irradiating the resin layer with a laser beam oscillated from a first laser source along a scheduled dividing line of the composite material to form a processing groove along the scheduled dividing line; a brittle material removing step of irradiating the brittle material layer with a laser beam oscillated from an ultrashort pulsed laser source along the scheduled dividing line to form a processing mark along the scheduled dividing line; and a brittle material layer dividing step of generating thermal stress in the brittle material layer by irradiating the brittle material layer with a laser beam oscillated from a second laser source from the opposite side to the resin layer to thereby divide the brittle material layer.

Methods and devices for producing a composite pane having a functional coating are presented. The functional coating is applied to part of a surface of a base pane, and a first pane is cut out from the base pane while introducing a frame-shaped peripheral coating-free region into the functional coating having an inner region that is not adjacent a side edge of the first pane. The surface of the first pane with the functional coating is then bonded via a thermoplastic intermediate layer to a surface of a second pane.

When decoating a glass panel (3), a decoating tool (6) with a circular-cylindrical grinding element (8) is used, which element is set to rotate around its axis. In the end face of the grinding element (8) that is used when the active face (9) is decoated, a hole (10) and at least one radial groove (11) are provided. The decoating tool (6) is placed at a spot (A) on the glass panel (3) in a movement (arrow 13) that is oriented at an acute angle to the plane of the glass panel (3), which lies between the ends (B) and (C) of the strip-shaped decoating area (14) and moves first to the one end (B) (arrow 15) and then to the other end (C) (arrow 16) in order to strip coating from the glass panel (3) in the decoating area (14).

A glass processing apparatus can comprise a first suction device positioned to receive one or more of a first protective layer or a second protective layer. The glass processing apparatus can further comprise a diverting apparatus positioned to receive the first and second protective layer. The diverting apparatus may be movable to direct the first protective layer along a first travel path and the second protective layer along a second travel path. The glass processing apparatus can further comprise a first processing apparatus positioned to receive the first protective layer and produce a first processed product from the first protective layer. The glass processing apparatus can also comprise a second processing apparatus positioned to receive the second protective layer and produce a second processed product different than the first processed product, from the second protective layer. In some embodiments, methods for processing glass with a glass processing apparatus.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for characterizing at least one anatomical parameter of an upper airway of a patient by analysing spectral properties of an utterance, comprising: a mechanical coupler comprising means for restricting the jaw position of the patient; means for recording an utterance; and processing means for determining at least one anatomical parameter of the upper airway from the recorded utterance and comparing the recorded utterance to a threshold value. In addition the present invention relates to the use of the above mentioned systems as a diagnostics tool for assessing obstructive sleep apnea.

A method of separating a coated substrate includes directing an infrared laser beam onto a first surface of the coated substrate. The coated substrate includes a coating layer disposed on a transparent workpiece, a plurality of defects is disposed within the coated substrate along a contour line that divides a primary region from a dummy region of the coated substrate from a dummy region of the coated substrate. The method also includes translating at least one of the coated substrate and the infrared laser beam relative to each other such that an infrared beam spot traces an oscillating pathway that follows an offset line in a translation direction and oscillates between an inner and outer track line, the oscillating pathway is disposed on the dummy region of the coated substrate, and the infrared laser beam applies thermal energy to the plurality of defects to induce separation of the coated substrate.