Bizarre Patents
Pillow with retractable umbrella
A pillow assembly having a supporting assembly and a retractable umbrella assembly that is easily transportable and allows a user to support his/her head while covering their face from sunlight.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6128365 | Apparatus and method for combining related objects in computed tomography data Sheet-shaped objects can be detected by analyzing a neighborhood of voxels surrounding a test voxel. If the density is sufficiently different, then the voxel is associated with a sheet object. Sheet objects can also be detected by eroding the CT data so a... | 10/03/2000 |
| 6108396 | Apparatus and method for correcting object density in computed tomography data Sheet explosives can be detected by analyzing voxels surrounding a test voxel. If the density is sufficiently different, it is concluded that the test voxel is associated with a sheet object. Sheet objects can also be detected by eroding the CT data then ... | 08/22/2000 |
| 6094047 | Method and apparatus for balancing rotating components of a spinstand of a magnetic head and disk tester An apparatus for balancing the spinstand of a magnetic head and disk testing system includes a base that rotationally supports a rotating spindle. The spindle supports a pack of disks and a slide moveable along guide rails of the spinstand. The slide, in ... | 07/25/2000 |
| 6026171 | Apparatus and method for detection of liquids in computed tomography data A method and apparatus for detecting objects in computed tomography (CT) data are shown. Specifically, the system can identify objects that contain liquids, if desired. A subregion that encloses an object is defined, and a top surface of the subregion is ... | 02/15/2000 |
| 6026143 | Apparatus and method for detecting sheet objects in computed tomography data Sheet-shaped objects can be detected by analyzing voxels surrounding a test voxel. If the density different from the mean density then the test voxel is associated with a sheet object. Sheet objects can also be detected by eroding the CT data. Remaining o... | 02/15/2000 |
| 6023061 | Miniature infrared camera A miniaturized IR camera mounts within a vehicle such as an airborne reconnaissance airplane. The camera includes a two dimensional uncooled FPA, a compound lens for imaging IR radiation onto the FPA, means for adjusting the distance between the lens and ... | 02/08/2000 |
| 6023145 | Head and disk tester with a thermal drift-compensated closed-loop positioning system The head/disk tester of the invention has a housing 43 that houses spindle 44 that rotatingly supports a magnetic disk 31. The housing supports a moveable carriage 30 that, in turn, supports a magnetic head 32. Positioning means 39 and 41 are used to move... | 02/08/2000 |
| 6019002 | Pressure transducer having a tensioned diaphragm A capacitive pressure transducer includes a conductive diaphragm positioned between pneumatically separated chambers. The diaphragm is fixed and sealingly coupled at its periphery to the peripheral rim of a concave body member. The diaphragm is supported ... | 02/01/2000 |
| 6020646 | Intergrated circuit die assembly An integrated circuit (IC) die carrier assembly includes a thinned IC die mounted to a substrate or carrier. The IC die is mounted to the carrier via a thin layer of glass. The carrier facilitates fixturing and provides support during the lapping process ... | 02/01/2000 |
| 6016821 | Systems and methods for ultrasonically processing delicate parts The invention provides systems, methods and apparatus for processing delicate parts within a process tank such as an ultrasonic tank. Typically, one or more transducers connect to the tank and respond to drive signals from a generator to produce ultrasoun... | 01/25/2000 |
| 6014800 | Method of making a pressure transducer having a tensioned diaphragm A capacitive pressure transducer includes a conductive diaphragm positioned between pneumatically separated chambers. The diaphragm is fixed and sealingly coupled at its periphery to the peripheral rim of a concave body member. The diaphragm is supported ... | 01/18/2000 |
| 6008433 | Osteotomy wedge device, kit and methods for realignment of a varus angulated knee The invention provides an osteotomy device, and kit and methods for realigning varus angulated knees. The device involves a substantially wedge-shaped body having two intersecting principal surfaces angularly offset. These principal surfaces extend in a d... | 12/28/1999 |
| 6006614 | Apparatus and method for improving dynamic characteristics of a fine-positioning mechanism in a magnetic head/disk tester An improved fine positioning mechanism in a magnetic head/disk tester includes a primary position actuator and a primary body that supports a read/write head to be tested, and an auxiliary body and auxiliary actuator. Both actuators operate contemporaneou... | 12/28/1999 |
| 6009136 | Damped storage rack for nuclear fuel assemblies A storage rack for storing nuclear fuel rod assemblies is provided with an array of cell housings having support elements which are preloaded against the adjacent corner of the adjacent cell housing. The support elements are fixed to the outer corner of o... | 12/28/1999 |
| 6007694 | Electrochemical machining An electrochemical machining method and apparatus involves the passage of a wire through a programmably controllable electrochemical machine, wherein the wire is tapered along its length to obtain a desired profile. The rate of material removal may be det... | 12/28/1999 |
| 6002195 | Apparatus and methods for cleaning and/or processing delicate parts The invention utilizes harmonics of certain clamped ultrasound transducers to generate ultrasound within the liquid of an ultrasonic tank and in a frequency range of between about 100 khz to 350 khz (i.e., "microsonic" frequencies). The application of mic... | 12/14/1999 |
| 5999023 | Clock forwarding circuit in semiconductor integrated circuit and clock forwarding method A clock forwarding circuit of a semiconductor integrated circuit which increases an operation timing margin of a data receive port and reduces power consumption, and a clock forwarding method, are provided. In the clock forwarding circuit for performing t... | 12/07/1999 |
| 5991203 | Circuit and method of erasing a nonvolatile semiconductor memory A system capable of stabilizing a tight distribution of threshold voltages of erased flash EEPROM memory cells within a fast time period includes at least one memory cell having source, channel and drain regions on a semiconductor substrate, a floating ga... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5990514 | Nonvolatile semiconductor memory having boosting lines self-aligned with word lines A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of floating gate type memory cell transistors having control gates. Word lines are integrally formed with the control gates, and boosting lines are self-aligned with the word lines. During pro... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5991358 | Data acquisition system for generating accurate projection data in a CT scanner A data acquisition system for use in a CT scanner comprises an analog-to-digital converter for generating digital signals in response to analog signals representative of projection data taken at a relatively constant sampling rate; and an interpolation fi... | 11/23/1999 |
| 5984343 | Sliding apparatus having adjustable flexion and torsion characteristics A snowboard includes one or more stiffening plates mounted to the top surface of the snowboard. The plates serve to stiffen localized areas on the snowboard in order to change the flexion and torsion characteristics of the snowboard in that localized area... | 11/16/1999 |
| 5982224 | Low-power charge pump circuit having reduced body effect A charge pump circuit comprises an input terminal for receiving an input voltage, an output terminal for providing an output voltage, and a plurality of pump stages connected in series between the input and output terminals and alternately coupled to firs... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5982844 | Computed tomography scanner drive system and bearing In an improved computed tomography scanner drive system and bearing configuration, a gantry disk is sheaved about its perimeter such that the gantry is operable as a driven pulley rotatable about an object to be scanned. A motor assembly mounted to a stat... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5982843 | Closed loop air conditioning system for a computed tomography scanner A computed tomography (CT) scanner includes an enclosure which forms a substantially sealed chamber around the rotatable disk carrying the radiation source and the radiation detectors. The CT scanner further includes an air conditioning system for control... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5976468 | Apparatus and method to supply a fluid sample to an analyzer Apparatus and methods for supplying a portion of a fluid stream and, alternately, a fluid of known composition and concentration to an analyzer are provided. The fluid stream is directed through a series of connected chambers formed in an integral housing... | 11/02/1999 |
| 5973329 | Ion generating apparatus for semiconductor manufacturing equipment including magnetic field switching apparatus An ion generating apparatus for semiconductor fabricating equipment includes a device for reversing the orientation of a magnetic field. In this manner, the potential energy of a plurality of filaments in the ion generating apparatus are maintained at a s... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5970113 | Computed tomography scanning apparatus and method with temperature compensation for dark current offsets A method and apparatus for performing CT scans of baggage being carried or loaded onto commercial aircraft are described. The CT baggage scanner of the invention includes numerous features which provide the system with high baggage throughput on the order... | 10/19/1999 |
| 5968367 | High performance liquid chromatography method and apparatus High pressure liquid chromatographic apparatus in which a fluid mixture containing at least one solute that is reactive with chromatographically reactive surfaces in the column is loaded into the column, and a number of plugs of different eluant fluids ar... | 10/19/1999 |
| 5966499 | System for delivering a substantially constant vapor flow to a chemical process reactor A vapor delivery system for delivering a vapor-phase reactant to a chemical process reactor at a substantially constant flow rate. The vapor delivery system includes a source of a reactant material, means for converting the reactant material to a vapor an... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5965642 | Acrylic and fluoroacrylic polymers for oxygen pressure sensing and pressure-sensitive paints utilizing these polymers The preparation and use of acrylic and fluoroacrylic polymers suitable for luminescence oxygen sensing applications are described. These materials can be used in luminophor coatings for optical fiber sensors or as coatings on aerodynamic surfaces for wind... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5964765 | Soft tissue fixation device A single-piece soft tissue fixation device includes an elongated element terminating in a tip at one end and a receptacle at the other end which bond with each other in a welded joint. The device is made of a heat-bondable, biocompatible material that can... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5964445 | Load counterbalancing system with a constant load displacement force A load counterbalancing system with a constant load displacement force includes a load element, a position transducer and an actuator element. An environmental force acting upon the load element is counterbalanced by a support force provided by the actuat... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5964752 | Articular cartilage surface shaping apparatus and method The invention disclosed is a method and apparatus for imparting a desired shape to a surface-to-be-shaped of articular cartilage in the joint of a mammal. The method discloses applying steam to a surface-to-be-shaped to soften the cartilage at and near th... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5959922 | Ferroelectric random access memory device with reference cell array blocks A ferroelectric random access memory device includes a plurality of reference cell array blocks implemented in a reference cell array. If the reference voltage from one of the reference cell array blocks is biased toward the voltage level of a logical dat... | 09/28/1999 |
| 5954058 | Power supply for implantable device The invention provides an implantable apparatus which includes a power supply capable of converting non-electrical energy such as mechanical, chemical, thermal, or nuclear energy into electrical energy. The invention also provides a method of supplying en... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5956660 | Personal inertial surveying system A personal inertial surveying system includes an inertial sensor and processing equipment adapted to be mounted to or carried by a person walking through a region being surveyed. As the person walks inaccuracies in position measurement due to drifts in th... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5952952 | Switched-capacitor array A binary-weighted capacitor array is applicable for use in analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog converters, switched-capacitor filters, etc. A plurality of unit capacitors are arranged in a lateral row. The row is laid out in parallel to a switch array ... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5948230 | Electrodialysis including filled cell electrodialysis (Electrodeionization) Improved electrodialysis (ED) stacks are disclosed having one or more components selected from the group: a) cation exchange membranes having ion exchange groups predominantly sulfonic acid groups and a minor amount of weakly acidic and/or weakly basic gr... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5949311 | Tunable resonators In a magnetically-tunable resonator, a wave-guiding structure comprising an electromagnetic frequency filter, or component of such a filter, is placed in sufficient proximity with a magnetic structure so as to be gyromagnetically coupled therewith. The re... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5949842 | Air calibration scan for computed tomography scanner with obstructing objects A method and apparatus for performing CT scans of baggage being carried or loaded onto commercial aircraft are described. The CT baggage scanner of the invention includes numerous features which provide the system with high baggage throughput on the order... | 09/07/1999 |
