...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 |
| 8185067 | Modulation method and apparatus A modulation circuit for use in a radiofrequency transmitter includes a local oscillator circuit configured to generate one or more local oscillator signals at a desired frequency and with a duty cycle at or about twenty-five percent, and a modulator configured to g... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185058 | Radio coexistence mechanism for variable data rate radio links A device has a radio transmitter for a first radio link such as a Bluetooth link, having a coexistence controller arranged to communicate with a co-located other radio transmitter for another radio link, to enable both radio links to use potentially conflicting tran... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8184833 | Electrostatic speaker arrangement for a mobile device A speaker is integrally formed with a multi-layered printed circuit board. The printed circuit board includes a flexible membrane layer with a conductive pattern thereon. Positive and negative elements are disposed on opposing sides of the flexible membrane. A drive... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8184046 | Time reference system A time reference system for generating a time reference from signals produced by a global navigation satellite constellation has a satellite signal receiver to receive and down-convert code-modulated signals from a plurality of satellites and a correlator to track a... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8181419 | Connector for connecting building members A connector assembly for accurately projecting fasteners for connecting two building members together while permitting limited relative motion between the members. The assembly includes a plate having one or more longitudinal slots. The plate is secured to or a part... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8179320 | Positioning method and devices in a mobile radio communications system The present invention relates to a method and devices for determining the position of a user equipment in a mobile radio communications system. According to the invention, the position is determined via a distortion in a radio signal transmitted to or from the user ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8176800 | Method for determining tension in a rod A method of determining the tension in an elongated rod is described. The method includes impacting the rod and measuring the vibration response of the rod. Further, the method entails generating a theoretical vibration response of the rod based in part at least on ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8175535 | Active cancellation of transmitter leakage in a wireless transceiver Active transmitter leakage cancellation techniques are disclosed, for reducing transmitter leakage in a frequency-duplexing radio transceiver. Reducing transmitter leakage to the receiver path of a duplex transceiver eases the linearity requirements for low-noise am... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175031 | Method and apparatus for supporting packet data services in service area boundary regions A method of providing packet data service is based on selectively switching packet data traffic for a mobile station operating in a boundary region between two service areas from a shared packet data channel to a dedicated packet data channel, or vice versa. For exa... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8172733 | Linearly adjustable multi resistance ratio exercise apparatus A linearly adjustable multi resistance ratio exercise apparatus provides at least two linearly adjustable flexible connector ends which can be pressed or pulled for functional and strength training exercises. The flexible connector ends may be interconnected with re... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8170599 | Format based power control Power control methods and apparatus taught herein advantageously provide quick convergence to the signal quality target needed to achieve a given data error rate target, when changes in transport format use by a given transport channel require such convergence. Spec... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8169943 | Method and a device for saving power in a wireless user terminal A method (400) for use in a cellular system with at least one controlling node (110), eNodeB, which controls user terminals, UEs (130), in a cell (120). According to the method, a UE can be in one of at least two different states (410 | 05/01/2012 |
| 8166735 | Pull type gang mower A gang-type lawn mower system comprises a main frame and a plurality of mower decks secured to the main frame. Mounted on the frame is a power source such as an internal combustion engine. A drive train is interconnected between the power source and each of the mowe... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8166721 | Metal-wood structural member A composite wood-metal structural member comprises a web and a pair of flanges. The web is at least partially made of metal and the flanges are at least partially made of wood. The web includes a pair of metal panels and each panel includes a central section and a p... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8165587 | Communicating cell restriction status information between radio access network nodes A cellular radio communications network includes a core network coupled to a radio access network (RAN) that has multiple RAN nodes for communication with mobile radio terminals. Each of the multiple RAN nodes serves one or more cells. At least one cell associated w... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165012 | Protection mechanisms for a communications network A method of path protection for a connection-oriented packet switched communications network is described using a protection hub in communication with a worker hub via a core protection path. Both the worker hub and the protection hub communicate with at least one p... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8163012 | Multi-planar tricuspid annuloplasty ring A multi-planar annuloplasty ring for implantation adjacent to the tricuspid valve with a gap adjacent to the apex of the triangle of Koch. The anterior part of the ring body extending from the highest point at the anteroseptal commissure down to a lower plane at the... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8161358 | Parity bit soft estimation method and apparatus The systematic and parity bits of a symbol are tightly coupled to each other based on the way in which the symbol is encoded. The relationship between the systematic and parity bits can be exploited to improve the accuracy of soft bit estimation for both the systema... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8160527 | Automatic gain control in multi-carrier wireless systems Methods and apparatus for providing automatic gain control (AGC) for received multi-carrier signals are disclosed. A receiver circuit comprises a common analog signal path, which includes an analog variable-gain circuit and an analog-to-digital converter, and furthe... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8160176 | Compensating pre-filter for an OFDM transmitter A method and apparatus for reducing group delay and/or amplitude errors applied to a transmission signal by one or more transmission filters is described herein. The present invention characterizes the errors introduced by one or more transmission filters relative t... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8160075 | Downlink out of sync detection in continuous packet connectivity Although described herein in terms of UE out-of-sync detection, those of skill in the art will readily recognize that embodiments of the present invention improve in-sync detection for currently out-of-sync UEs 22. That is, if an out-of-sync UE 22 dete... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8159955 | Method and arrangement for link cost determination for routing in wireless networks The invention relates to determination of a link cost employable in route determination and data forwarding in a multihop communication network (1). This link cost is adapted to the particular characteristics of wireless contention-based networks (1), ... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8157996 | Water treatment device comprising a reactor and means for injecting a reagent into the reactor mounted on mobile supporting means The invention concerns a water treatment device comprising a reactor (1) and means for injecting (2) at least one reagent into said reactor, characterized in that it comprises means for supporting said injection means mobile relative to said reactor ( | 04/17/2012 |
| 8155251 | Detection of access bursts in a random access channel A technique for detecting one or more access bursts (112) in a random access channel (110) is described. Each access burst includes a transmission preamble, the transmission preamble being a member of a preamble set including sequences of preamble symb... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8155032 | Adaptive scheduling for half-duplex wireless terminals Adaptation is introduced into allocation of uplink and downlink subframes in wireless communication systems that support full-duplex and half-duplex mobile terminals, thus reducing interference between mobile terminals. In an exemplary method for allocating uplink a... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8151329 | Secure handling of stored-value data objects An approach to managing stored-value data objects, such as electronic tickets, comprises secure systems and procedures for ticket issuing, storage, and redemption. With these systems and procedures in place, stored-value data objects may be securely transferred to r... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8151056 | Updating data within a business planning tool A apparatus is provided for updating data within a business planning tool. The apparatus comprises a computer memory (22) arranged to store operational data in a plurality of line items (50), each line item (50) being arranged to represent opera... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8150447 | Multi mode outer loop power control in a wireless network A method and arrangement is provided for adjusting the transmission power of radio signals sent over a radio link from a second node to be received by a first node reducing the transmission power consumption and/or optimizing the radio system capacity. The first nod... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8150390 | Method of routing a call made to a fixed telephone number of a UMA-subscriber in a telecommunication network The invention relates to a method of routing a call made to a fixed telephone number of a UMA-subscriber in a telecommunication network. A service control entity stores a so-called ‘near list’ comprising a cell identifier of each cell overlapping a WLAN coverage... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8150338 | Method and apparatus for signal peak-to-average ratio reduction A method and apparatus taught herein reduce the peak-to-average ratio (PAR) of a complex-valued signal based on detecting peaks in the signal that are above a peak threshold, characterizing the detected peaks in Cartesian coordinates, generating cancellation pulses ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8150091 | Printed circuit board for a flat-panel speaker A flat-panel speaker is attached to an exterior surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) housed within a consumer electronic device. Rather than place the flat-panel speaker within a sealed speaker box and then attach the speaker box to the PCB, as is conventional, ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8149849 | Zigbee/IP gateway A gateway enables communications between a personal area network, such as a Zigbee network, and an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The gateway includes a first interface device for connecting to the personal area network, a second interface device for connecting to ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8147699 | Monolith filter apparatus and membrane apparatus, and method using same A filtration apparatus that separates a liquid feedstock mixed with a gas into filtrate and retentate, the apparatus including at least one filtration device comprised of at least one monolith segment of porous material that defines a plurality of passageways extend... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8147695 | Method of removing phosphorus from wastewater A process for removing phosphorus from wastewater wherein an iron or aluminum salt is added to the wastewater. The iron or aluminum salt results in the precipitation of certain iron or aluminum species that include phosphorus adsorption sites. These iron or phosphor... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8147327 | Method for updating a multiplayer game session on a mobile device A method for updating a game session comprises detecting a game event during a game session, sending an update request to a game data object server responsive to the game event, receiving a game data object from the game data server responsive to the update request,... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8134940 | Method and apparatus in a telecommunication system Method and apparatus in a communication unit (400) employing a wireless TDD or half duplex FDD transmission arrangement when communicating with a data sending party, for scheduling feedback reports for data blocks in received RX sub-frames, in TX sub-frames a... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8134933 | Quality channel reporting in a time division system A method (400) for use in a wireless communications system (100) with a first transceiver (110) and a second transceiver (130) which communicate with each other, which system is a TDD-system, with communication divided into time frames wi... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132816 | Electrically Actuated Robotic Tool Changer A robotic tool changer comprises first and second units, operative to be separately attached to a robot and a robotic tool, and further operative to be selectively coupled together and decoupled. The first and second units are coupled and decoupled by an electric mo... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132383 | Clip for attaching to column or beam A metal clip is provided for facilitating the attachment of metal strips and wallboard to columns and beams. The metal clip includes a base section and a spring retainer extending from the base section. A portion of a column or beam, such as flange, can be inserted ... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132292 | Hinge mechanism for a wireless communication device The present application is directed to a hinge for a clamshell-type wireless communication device or other electronic device. In one embodiment, the communication device includes a base portion and a flip portion. A hinge mechanism movably couples the flip portion t... | 03/13/2012 |