...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8180075 | Arrangement for variable bass reflex cavities A modified housing in a portable product (400, 500, 700, or 800) includes a housing detail (405, 506, 706 or 710 or 806) forming at least a portion of a loud speaker back cavity having a pipe inner diameter for a resonant pipe (... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8170604 | Method and system for managing communications for a multi-mode communications device The invention concerns a method (200) and system (100) for managing communications for a multi-mode communications device (130). The method can include the steps of establishing (210) communications with at least a first wireless network ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170094 | Method and system for scalable bitstream extraction A scalable video compression system (100) having an encoder (120), bit extractor (140), and decoder (160) for efficiently encoding and decoding a scalable embedded bitstream (130) at different video resolution, framerate, and video... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8165095 | System and method to improve RF simulations A system (100) and method (400) for improving Radio Frequency (RF) Antenna Simulation is provided. The method can include determining (402) a proximity of an antenna (250) to a scattering structure (210), determining (410) a... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8164537 | Multiband folded dipole transmission line antenna A multiband folded dipole transmission line antenna (300, 400, 500) including a plurality of concentric-like loops (210, 214, 508) where each loop comprises at least one transmission line element (204, 206) and at least a pair of folded dipole a... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8155167 | Low complexity frequency hopping solution for performance testing system and method A system and method for low complexity frequency hopping simulation for communication device performance testing is disclosed. A baseband and channel model combination in a baseband processing module (602) of a testing system (600) reduces the required... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8149144 | Hybrid arithmetic-combinatorial encoder Hybrid range coding/combinatorial coding (FPC) encoders and decoders are provided. Encoding and decoding can be dynamically switched between range coding and combinatorial according to the ratio of ones to the ratio of bits in a partial remaining sequence in order t... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8140076 | Method for facilitating a mobile station to perform a fast handoff A method for facilitating a mobile station to perform a fast handoff in a wireless communication system allows a handoff procedure to be anticipated (by the mobile station, its serving base station, or both) based on historical information regarding prior successful... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8139694 | Method for reducing power consumption when receiving paging channel information at a mobile communication device A mobile communication device (100) includes a receiver (102) which is normally shut off when the mobile communication device is idle. Upon the arrival of a paging time slot to which the mobile communication device is assigned, the mobile communication... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8131286 | Technique for providing broadcast services in a cellular network A technique for providing broadcast services to a subscriber station includes determining (904) when a first broadcast frame that is to be transmitted on a broadcast channel includes broadcast information that is to be received by the subscriber station. Next... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8108344 | Method and system for maintaining current data for wireless devices A system includes a server to receive a request representing changes to data residing at a device. The request is received from the device that is coupled to the server. The server includes a first synchronizer to identify the changes via web services description. T... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8103118 | Electronic device with optoelectronic input/output compensation function for a display Portable devices (100) that include displays (102) and are used in widely ranging ambient light conditions use selectable or adjustable optoelectronic input/output compensation functions to drive their displays. According to certain embodiments, a came... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8055222 | Multiple protocol signal detector A Multiple Protocol Signal Detector, MPSD (320, 500) has a mixer (406) that receives signal energy from a multi-band antenna system (324) via a low noise amplifier (402) and from a variable frequency synthesizer (408) via a first v... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8054774 | Multi-slot packet data transfer method A multislot packet data transfer method (300) for a mobile station alters a transmission (370) of a radio block on a last transmission timeslot in a block period (320) immediately preceding an idle frame when the mobile station is in an allowed ... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8045501 | Method and apparatus for signaling uplink scheduling information A method (300) and apparatus (200) for signaling uplink scheduling information is disclosed. The method may include determining (320) whether an enhanced general packet radio service 2-B mobile device and an enhanced general packet radio service... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8031059 | Communication system A system (100) for communicating multimedia messages includes a multimedia message server (102) that is operable to transmit (1404, 1406, 1408) visual media, a vibration melody (1200), and an audio segment (1300) that is preferably... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8022615 | Light generating layer for a reflective display A self emission device (644) that emits light (526). The self emission device can include at least one light emission layer (104) encompassing an area, and generating light over such area in a distributed fashion. The self emission device also c... | 09/20/2011 |
| 8019340 | Reduced scanning within a uniform period in out-of-service conditions A method (300) and mobile device (120) for reduced scanning within a uniform period in an out-of-service condition is described herein. In one arrangement, the method can include the steps of detecting (310) the out-of-service condition, during ... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8005987 | Multi-representation media event handoff A system and method provides transition continuity for an event across a plurality of media representation device types. The system and method allow identification information for a media event such as a sports game, talk show, music, video, etc. to be handed-off be... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7986928 | Method and apparatus for selecting a radio channel for transmitting an audio signal to a radio local receiver A transmitter device (100) receives an audio signal from an audio source device (112), and transmits the audio signal at a low power over a commercial broadcast channel to a local receiver (120). The transmitter device selects an initial channel... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7979767 | Automatic repeat request (ARQ) reset method An Automatic Repeat-reQuest (ARQ) Reset method for an ARQ transmitter disables (120) transmission, starts (130) an ARQ transmitter window at a first unacknowledged block, and discards (140) service data units (SDUs) in the ARQ transmitter window... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7974626 | Method and apparatus for improving success rate and time of call setup for a mobile station experiencing high interference A method and apparatus may improve success rate and time of call-setup while a mobile station is experiencing high interference. The method checks (255) if a mobile station is experiencing high-interference. This may occur when the mobile station fails to dec... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7974536 | System and method for pre-configuring and authenticating data communication links An electronic device includes a data processor and data communication mechanism for: (a) transmitting, via an optical link, configuration and authentication requests/information for a second data communication link to an external device; and (b) transmitting other c... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7970350 | Devices and methods for content sharing Described are methods and devices for automatically coupling two or more mobile communication devices (502, 541) to share content such as calls, music, documents, video and games where two or more devices automatically determine the feasibility of sharing the... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7962102 | Method and system for adaptive ray launching A system (170) and method (300) for ray launching is provided. The system can include a transmitter (110) for successively launching a plurality of rays, and a receiver (120) for receiving transmission rays and reflection rays. A controll... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7961900 | Communication device with single output audio transducer A communication device 100 includes a first audio output 105; a second audio output 110; an audio transducer 115 for dual mode use; a shuttered acoustic path 120 coupled between the audio transducer 115 and the first audio o... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7945004 | Method and apparatus for detecting a frequency band and mode of operation A method and apparatus for detecting a frequency band and mode of operation using recursive sampling and narrowing down is disclosed. The method comprises sampling (215) by a multi-mode wireless communication device, a broad operational frequency spectrum at ... | 05/17/2011 |
| 7941132 | Method and apparatus for dynamic menuing of applications in a mobile communication device A mobile communication device (100) downloads an application file (300), which includes an application (302) and a menu parameter set (306). The mobile communication device uses custom menu categories (502), and the application is ... | 05/10/2011 |
| 7936894 | Multielement microphone An improved microphone assembly (128) is provided for porting two microphones (240, 242) of an opposing pair used for beam forming through a single symmetric porting structure (244). The microphone assembly (128) includes a first micropho... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7925319 | Wireless communication device for sending and receiving signals in a plurality of frequency bands An wireless communication device with an antenna (400) for sending and receiving signals in a plurality of frequency bands generates a plurality of resonances in the plurality of frequency bands and includes a first radiating element (402) that generat... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7921741 | Electromagnetic testing model of human hand Model human hands (902) for use in electromagnetic (e.g., microwave and RF) testing comprise a skeleton (1200, 104) of dielectric tubes (142, 148, 166, 170, 174, 178, 206, 208, 210, 1202, 1212, 1214, 1216, 1228, 1230, 1236, 1240, 1242, 194, 195, 196... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7912113 | Techniques for estimating received signal strength and carrier to interference and noise ratio in OFDM systems A technique for determining a received signal strength indicator of a target base station at a subscriber station includes performing a discrete Fourier transform on a received signal to provide a transformed signal. In this case, the transformed signal occupies one... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7904277 | Labeling methods and devices Disclosed are methods and electronic devices 102 including a display 104 that is configured to display indicia 114, 116, 118 persistently during a shipping process. The disclosed methods and electronic devices may include an indicia control 1... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7903083 | Mixed-mode encapsulated electrophoretic display for electronic device A substrate (104) has a region of conductor segments (110) and a matrix display driver (106) mounted on it. The matrix display driver is used for creating pixilated images or symbols, while the conductor segments are used for turning on or off i... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7864882 | Method and apparatus for generating constant envelope modulation using a quadrature transmitter A multi-mode communication device (100) uses a quadrature transmitter (102) for transmitting both amplitude and constant envelope angle-modulated signals. For angle modulation, a separate feedback path is used from that used for amplitude modulated sig... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7864657 | Method and apparatus for performing stream weighting in an SDMA communication system A method and apparatus for performing stream weighting in a spatial-division multiple access communication system is provided herein. During operation the base station receiver receives channel information from mobiles (also known as users or nodes) and calculates t... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7836294 | Mobile station security mode method A security mode method (200) receives (210) a layer 3 message in a first domain from a network, determines (220) if the layer 3 message has integrity protection information, ascertains (240) if a security mode has been initiated in the fi... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7826419 | Method and system to improve transmission and receipt of channel descriptors The invention concerns a method (200) and system for improving transmission or receipt of channel descriptors. The method can include the steps of—in a wireless communication system (100) that periodically broadcasts regular channel descriptors (3... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7805763 | Method for distributing values for networks with mobile nodes A method (100, 200, 300, 400, 600) for sharing values among nodes (processors) (900, 1004, 1006, 1008, 1010) in a network (1000) that includes mobile nodes that is resistant to corruption by faulty nodes. Movement of nodes triggers special messa... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7801571 | Multi-use acoustic leak path system The invention concerns a mobile communications unit (100) having at least one transducer (120) that can broadcast audio through a direct port (110), at least one leak port (114) for leak tolerance of the unit, in which the leak port can h... | 09/21/2010 |