Business activities and summary of significant accounting policies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2013	Oct. 31, 2012
Business Activities And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Amortization expense	$ 220,000	$ 239,000
Advertising expense	195,000	242,000
Engineering Expenses	1,377,000	1,134,000
Stock based compensation expense	232,000	264,000
Shares excluded from computation of diluted per share amount	21,177	755,568
Cost of Sales
Business Activities And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Stock based compensation expense	58,000	53,000
Selling General and Engineering Expenses
Business Activities And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Stock based compensation expense	$ 174,000	$ 211,000
Maximum
Business Activities And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cost and depreciated over their estimated useful lives	5 years
Minimum
Business Activities And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cost and depreciated over their estimated useful lives	3 years