Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8185539 | Web site or directory search using speech recognition of letters A mobile telephone is used to search the web site (or computer database) of an entity to find information such as in an FAQ. The user speaks the first few letters of a word (or the first few letters of each of a string of words) into the telephone. The spoken letter... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185427 | Method and system for presenting user tasks for the control of electronic devices A method of representing user tasks to be performed by one or more of a plurality of electronic devices in a task orchestration system. Each device includes therein a function description specifying a function that the device can perform. The function descriptions a... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185166 | Thermal spray coating for seamless and radio-transparent electronic device housing Electronic devices and other apparatuses adapted to receive electromagnetic wave communications are disclosed. An outer housing encloses various device components, including at least an internal antenna located fully therewithin and adapted to receive/send communica... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185048 | Communication apparatus A communication apparatus includes a transmitter configured to supply an information signal as an electric field to a transmission medium; a receiver configured to detect the electric field through the transmission medium to acquire the information signal; an insula... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8184423 | Electronic device with automatic mode switching An automatic hold switch is disclosed. The automatic hold switch provides a means for automatically switching a hold feature on and off. When the hold feature is on, one or more input devices of a portable electronic device are disabled or prevented from providing i... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8184108 | Apparatus and method for a folded optical element waveguide for use with light based touch screens A folded optical element waveguide that allows a minimum width bezel to be used around the perimeter of a light-based touch screen display. The apparatus and method includes a touch screen and a waveguide substrate provided adjacent the touch screen. The waveguide s... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8180917 | Packet threshold-mix batching dispatcher to counter traffic analysis An antivirus agent located on a user computer, local area network or standalone hardware device includes a statistical module, a control unit, a timeslot generator and a dispatcher. The statistical module calculates statistics for incoming request packets including ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8180435 | Method and apparatus for determining target depth, brightness and size within a body region A method of investigating the location and size of a light-emitting source in a subject is disclosed. In practicing the method, one first obtains a light intensity profile by measuring, from a first perspective with a photodetector device, photons which (i) originat... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8180288 | Communication system A communication system according to the present invention includes a transmitter for applying a transmission signal to a human body as an electric field, and a receiver for receiving the transmission signal by detecting the electric field via the human body. The rec... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8180030 | Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus A telecommunication and multimedia management apparatus and method that supports voice and other media communications and that enables users to: (i) participate in multiple conversation modes, including live phone calls, conference calls, instant voice messaging or ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8180029 | Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus A telecommunication and multimedia management apparatus and method that supports voice and other media communications and that enables users to: (i) participate in multiple conversation modes, including live phone calls, conference calls, instant voice messaging or ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8179419 | Video conferencing apparatus and method A video conferencing system having video and/or audio capture device for video and audio communications is disclosed. The video and audio capture device may include one or more switches for securely activating and deactivating the device. Furthermore, an indicator m... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8179338 | Method and system for displaying information A display and a method of displaying information are disclosed. The display includes a first display screen including a first plurality of pixels controllable to display a visual indicator. A second display screen includes a second plurality of pixels, wherein the f... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8176068 | Method and system for suggesting search queries on electronic devices A method and system implementing a process for suggesting search queries on an electronic device is provided. The process involves displaying terms related to content accessed by a user for selection by the user, obtaining one or more key terms related to a user-sel... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175902 | Semantics-based interests in computing environments and systems An input situation can be represented by at least a first context variable. Data that includes interest values for multiple context variables can be provided and obtained. The obtained data can include a first data pertaining to the input situation and a second data... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175527 | Portable apparatus A portable apparatus of the present invention functions as a transmitter and/or a receiver in electric field communication in which communication is performed through a human body by converting an information signal into an electric field signal; is substantially he... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175387 | Image similarity detection using approximate pattern matching Two images are compared to determine how similar they are. First, a process normalizes each image, then horizontal and vertical byte sequences are derived from each image. A similarity formula is used to obtain a similarity value that represents the similarity betwe... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175234 | Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus The present invention is directed to a method for simultaneously rendering one or more conversations on a communication device. The method includes receiving at the first communication device media associated with the one or more conversations over a network and def... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8174230 | Drive unit A switch section includes a common terminal connected to a terminal at one end of each of a pair of motors, a first terminal connected to a terminal at the other end of one of the motors and a second terminal connected to a terminal at the other end of the other of ... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8173547 | Silicon etch with passivation using plasma enhanced oxidation A method and apparatus for etching a silicon layer through a patterned mask formed thereon are provided. The silicon layer is placed in an etch chamber. An etch gas comprising a fluorine containing gas and an oxygen and hydrogen containing gas is provided into the e... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8172980 | Device with self aligned gaps for capacitance reduction A method for reducing capacitances between semiconductor device wirings is provided. A sacrificial layer is formed over a dielectric layer. A plurality of features are etched into the sacrificial layer and dielectric layer. The features are filled with a filler mate... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8172948 | De-fluoridation process A feature in a layer is provided. A photoresist layer is formed over the layer. The photoresist layer is patterned to form photoresist features with photoresist sidewalls, where the photoresist features have a first critical dimension. A fluorine-containing conforma... | 05/08/2012 |
| D659197 | Flying disc | 05/08/2012 |
| 8171552 | Simultaneous execution of multiple anti-virus programs An anti-virus program executes simultaneously with another anti-virus program by accessing a function (target) driver in the driver model directly instead of traversing each filter driver in the driver model as is conventionally done. The filter driver component of ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8171035 | Situation-aware recommendation using correlation In one embodiment, data relating to usage patterns of the user is stored, wherein the data includes information as to items which were used and the context in which they were used. A correlation table is constructed. Correlation values between each item and each con... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170361 | Video window detector The invention provides for automatically identifying the location of a displayed video window based upon a characterization of selected portions of the image for realness based upon a distribution of luminance values for the selected portions. The image is then sear... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8167695 | Casino games Apparatus and methods related to multi-player casino games are described. An electronic gaming device is provided that allows a live player to compete against a virtual player in a multi-player wager-based game. The electronic gaming device can comprise a multi-play... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8166317 | System for reducing standby power in an AC adapter that supply power to a USB device An electronic device has: an operation unit; a power supply unit; an input changeover switch; and a controller. The power supply unit is supplied commercial power and supplies the operating power to the operation unit. The input changeover switch switches between su... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8166159 | Creating dynamic signatures for virtual locations In one embodiment, a method for forming location signatures for a device, the method comprising: retrieving information regarding one or more digital devices detected around the device during a first set time period; and creating a first signature for a location bas... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8166052 | Situation recognition for recommendation using merge-split approach In one embodiment, data relating to usage patterns of the user is stored, wherein the data includes information as to items which were used and the context in which they were used. The data is then clustered into input clusters of data points. It is determined if th... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8164232 | Mechanical meta-materials The present invention provides meta-materials with an actively controllable mechanical property. The meta-material includes a deformable structure and a set of activation elements. The activation elements are controllable between multiple states. The meta-material i... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8161963 | Thin film solar collector A solar collector is provided that is formed from relatively thin polymer sheet(s). The sheet(s) are welded together to integrally define a storage tank, a plurality of fluid flow channel (e.g. risers), and other desired features within the collector. The storage ta... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8161552 | White list creation in behavior monitoring system A white list (or exception list) for a behavior monitoring system for detecting unknown malware on a computing device is maintained automatically without human intervention. A white list contains process IDs and other data relating to processes that are determined t... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8161548 | Malware detection using pattern classification A malware classifier uses features of suspect software to classify the software as malicious or not. The classifier uses a pattern classification algorithm to statistically analyze computer software. The classifier takes a feature representation of the software and ... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8161397 | Interaction between real-world digital environments and virtual worlds In one embodiment, a method for operating a local virtual world proxy is provided. A virtual world view is received corresponding to a virtual world client. Information about resources available to the virtual world client is obtained. Virtual representations of one... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8161148 | Communication device and method for setting the communication setting required to establish communication Upon no completion of setting of a user ID and a password to be sent to a PPPoE server, in response to reception of a DNS request from a client, a communication device of the invention sends back a unique LAN IP address, which is allocated to the communication devic... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8159617 | Universal, highly configurable video and graphic measurement device An apparatus and method for processing a video signal includes means for receiving the video signal, means for analyzing the video signal based upon a user supplied set of instructions, means for processing the video signal in accordance with the analysis, and means... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8159225 | Multi-frequency transmitter for a metal detector A method for generating a transmit signal for transmission including the steps of a) generating at least two selected rectangular wave signals, each having a different fundamental frequency; b) mixing the selected rectangular wave signals to produce a driving signal... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8158524 | Line width roughness control with arc layer open To achieve the foregoing and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention a method for etching an etch layer disposed below an antireflective coating (ARC) layer below a patterned mask is provided. The ARC layer is opened, and features are etched into the... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8156238 | Wireless multimedia transport method and apparatus Apparatus and methods for wireless data transmission in a multimedia network are disclosed. Disclosed is a network having a source coupled to a sink using a virtual channel that includes a wireless communication channel. A source end of the system provides a packeti... | 04/10/2012 |
