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Patent No. 6681419

Forehead support apparatus 

A forehead support apparatus for resting a standing users forehead against a wall above a bathroom commode or urinal or beneath a showerhead.

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Attorney: Clements Walker


Number of patents: 78
Last date: March 25, 2008

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NumberTitleIssue Date
7349960Throttling distributed statistical data retrieval in a network device
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing distributed statistical data retrieval in a network device. Periodically, statistical data is gathered by processes on one or more remote cards in a network device and transferred to a central proces...
03/25/2008
7343101Method and system for reducing crosstalk in an optical communication network
A method of reducing correlation between channels in an optical communication network. A transmission characteristic of first data on a first channel is altered to reduce correlation between the first data and second data on a second channel. The reduction in correl...
03/11/2008
7343096Method and apparatus for in-service upgrading of OADM to wavelength selective switch of higher degree
System and methods for upgrading an optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) to higher degree wavelength selective router (WSR)/wavelength selective switch (WSS) are disclosed. For example, an OADM of degree-2 may be provisioned for upgrades to degree-3 and higher. The e...
03/11/2008
7342712Filters, including optical filters, having equal group delay ripple and minimized phase non-linearity within their pass bands
The present invention provides an optical telecommunications network that includes at least one of a filter having equal group delay ripple and minimized phase non-linearity which is formed by the process including limiting at least one of the group delay ripple and...
03/11/2008
7336418Optical attenuator
An optical attenuator with increased dynamic range and reduced temperature-dependence over the dynamic range. The optical attenuator has a Faraday rotational angle variable device which applies an external magnetic field to light polarized by a garnet crystal, and a...
02/26/2008
7333736Method and apparatus for controlling modulator phase alignment in a transmitter of an optical communications system
A method and apparatus for controlling phase alignment in a modulator of a transmitter in an optical communications system utilizes an RF power signature to tune phase alignment. A portion of the optical signal is tapped and converted to an electrical signal. An ele...
02/19/2008
7330652System and method for selecting the placement of optical amplifiers in an optical network
A system and method for selecting optical amplifier placement in an optical network is disclosed. In one embodiment, a design tool is used to configure the optical add/drop multiplexers of each nose. For nodes with more than a small number of nodes there are a large...
02/12/2008
7330481Highly channelized port polling in a telecommunications switch
A method of telecommunication network switch port polling enables very highly channelized ports to be polled. A polling engine reads information from at least one of a plurality of poll registers, and each of the plurality of poll registers is associated with a uniq...
02/12/2008
7330425Method and apparatus for permanent sub-network connections in a communication network
Methods and apparatus implementing and using techniques for creating a permanent sub-network connection in a network of connected nodes. A route including a working path for a permanent sub-network connection is defined in the network from an ingress node to an egre...
02/12/2008
7330666Method and apparatus for controlling modulator phase alignment in a transmitter of an optical communications system
A method of controlling phase alignment in a modulator of a transmitter in an optical communications system uses a narrowband optical filter to monitor changes in power spectral density of a modulated output at and around the optical carrier frequency. In one embodi...
02/12/2008
7322044Systems and methods for automated network policy exception detection and correction
The present invention is directed to systems and methods for automated detection of one or more wireless network policy violations and/or enforcement of such policies. A wireless network policy violation is detected. Associated with the detected violation are one or...
01/22/2008
D560088Equipment holding device
01/22/2008
7319662Virtual line switched ring
At least one protection line is shared among SONET rings. Identification and availability information of the shared protection line is distributed among the switches of the SONET rings using K-byte data in the SONET overhead. ...
01/15/2008
7313736Method and apparatus for aggregating alarms and faults of a communications network
A distributed method and system of controlling a communications network having a plurality of spans of interconnected network elements some of which include a network element processor distributes network topology information to respective span databases; stores ori...
12/25/2007
7309429Granular filtration device for water
The invention is a granular media filter for in-line liquid applications that allows media as fine as 44 micron to be used to increase the removal of contaminants from the liquid with adequate flows consisting of a specific arrangement. A flow distributor has a non-...
12/18/2007
7310688Relative addressing for network elements
A relative address protocol for communicating message packets along a linear chain network or quasi-linear chain network is disclosed. The protocol includes a relative destination address field that includes a counter having a preselected initial value at a source n...
12/18/2007
7310333Switching control mechanism for supporting reconfiguaration without invoking a rearrangement algorithm
A method of modeling or constructing a switch element uses an ingress stage with input sorters and input routers; an egress stage with output routers and output sorters; and a center stage interconnecting the ingress and egress stages. Routers are partitioned such t...
12/18/2007
7310318Method and system for using optical phase conjugation in an optical communications network
A optical communications network including at least one optical phase conjugator for compensating for non-linear effects. The optical communications network includes at least one dispersion compensation module before the optical phase conjugator and at least one dis...
12/18/2007
7308747Method of positioning a platform relative to a fixed frame and a small scale positioning device
A small-scale positioning device employing a platform, a levering mechanism and a floating actuator device. The platform is movably attached to a fixed frame by a lever, a pair of levers, or more. The floating actuator device is coupled between at least one lever an...
12/18/2007
7308197Modular add/drop multiplexer including a wavelength selective switch
Consistent with the present invention, tunable demultiplexers are provided in WSS-based add/drop multiplexer. The tunable demultiplexers are modular and thus allow the add/drop multiplexer to be readily expandable, and facilitate flexible add/drop capabilities where...
12/11/2007
D553923Caulk removing tool
10/30/2007
D554010Single-spacing stud tape
10/30/2007
7285675N-hydroxyalkyltrimellitimide esters and bis-(trimellitimide) esters and method of making
The present invention relates to trimellitic anhydride imide ester, a method of making it, and polyesters or polyamides that can be modified with trimellitic anhydride (TMA) to provide better heat resistance and mechanical properties. With the present invention, the...
10/23/2007
7283462Multiple bundle identification for calculation of a network protect path
Consistent with a feature of the present invention, protection and working routes are determined by assigning administrative weight values to each route in a network. The administrative weight value of a route can correspond to the physical distance associated with ...
10/16/2007
7283466Tracking physical route changes in optical switching network
A method and system for tracking physical route changes in an optical switching network. One embodiment comprises a method for detecting changes in physical routes of connections within an optical switching network. The method includes receiving an event message fro...
10/16/2007
7278840Compliant viscous seal for fluid transfer device
A viscous seal for fluid transfer devices that deviates from the conventional wisdom of avoiding contact between the seal and a rotating drive shaft of the fluid transfer device. Instead of avoiding contact, contact between the seal and drive shaft is used to effect...
10/09/2007
7278297Oscillating probe with a virtual probe tip
An oscillating probe of an elongated rod, having a first free end, and a second end that is attached to at least one actuator to apply oscillation cycles to the rod. Oscillation of the elongated rod during at least one complete cycle of oscillation of the actuator c...
10/09/2007
7280762Optical communication system having dynamic gain equalization
An optical communication device, and related method, are provided for providing a tailored, spectrally non-uniform gain over a broad spectrum. In particular, the optical communication device includes an optical amplifier having a dynamic gain equalization (DGE) circ...
10/09/2007
7280529Providing network management access through user profiles
The present invention provides a method for managing telecommunications networks through user profiles that establish management capabilities and lists of network devices capable of being managed through each user profile. Through profiles, users may be given contro...
10/09/2007
7277404System and method for sensing wireless LAN activity
A wireless network sensor includes a system data store capable of storing a variety of data associated with a wireless computer network and communication(s) transmitted thereon, a communication interface supporting at least reception of wireless communication(s) ove...
10/02/2007
7269347Optical receiver decision threshold tuning apparatus and method
A method of controlling an optical signal receiver utilizes three control loops: a first control loop tunes the decision threshold of the receiver when the optical network is in a substantially steady state and a second control loop rapidly switches to a reference d...
09/11/2007
D550424Shopping cart directory
09/04/2007
7266595Accessing network device data through user profiles
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for accessing network device data through user profiles. User profiles may be created by network administrators, and the corresponding user profile data may be stored in a central network management system (NMS) ...
09/04/2007
7263597Network device including dedicated resources control plane
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for improving transmission of control information within a network device and between multiple connected network devices. Specifically, a control path is included within a network device that is independent of th...
08/28/2007
7258316Expansible hole anchor with enlarged chock-releasing striker head
An expansible anchor is adapted for inserting into a hole formed with a structure. The anchor includes a load cable and a first chock attached to an end of the load cable. A second chock resides adjacent to the first chock, and is adapted for movement between an anc...
08/21/2007
7255391Twin-sheet thermoformed products
A twin-sheet thermoforming process for the manufacture of vehicle headliners. In the process a first sheet and second sheet of SuperLite material are mounted onto respective frames. The frames transfer the sheets into an oven, where they are heated to a desired temp...
08/14/2007
7254327Switching status and performance monitoring technology for wavelength selective switch and optical networks
A universal in-service monitoring scheme to monitor performances of optical networks, including elements that make up the optical network, is proposed. The elements may be a wavelength selective switch or an optical cross connect. In this scheme, a small tunable pro...
08/07/2007
7254335Stackable WDM arrangement
A module that includes both an “add-in”/“drop-out” pair of ports and a “drop-in”/“add-out” pair of ports comprises an arrangement of elements that combines an optical signal having a chosen wavelength with an optical signal applied at the “add-in...
08/07/2007
7254616Reliable communication mechanism with “at most once” delivery guarantee
An improved inter-module communication facilitation mechanism (CFM) is disclosed, which provides improved scalability, improved efficiency, and enhanced functionality and performance. In one aspect, the CFM enables a subscriber to subscribe to multiple events using ...
08/07/2007
7251296System for clock and data recovery
A clock and data recovery (CDR) system that generates one or more clock signals from a received data stream and determines an optimal clock signal to associate with the incoming data stream. The system includes a candidate clock generation circuit that operates to r...
07/31/2007
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