Bizarre Patents
A Christmas stocking having illumination means associated therewith for signalling the arrival of Santa Claus.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8035308 | Software controlled electronic dimming ballast A software controlled electronic dimming ballast for preheating, striking, and varying the dimming level of a lamp. In one embodiment, the ballast includes an EMI filter circuit, an AC/DC converter circuit, a PFC circuit, an inverter circuit, and a software controll... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8031494 | Method and apparatus for providing an initial bias and enable signal for a power converter The invention relates to a switch-mode power converter including a bias circuit. A power converter power transformer includes a magnetic core. The switch-mode power converter power transformer also includes an initial bias primary winding and an initial bias seconda... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8031040 | Magnetic component having a bobbin structure with integrated winding A magnetic component has a bobbin structure for winding a conductive material. The bobbin structure includes a bobbin body having a first winding embedded in the bobbin body. The first winding is made of a conductive material. The first winding includes a winding bo... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8029288 | Computer implemented systems and methods for enhancing renewable energy educational activities Systems and methods are provided for collecting, aggregating, and analyzing data associated with the performance of systems. Energy systems, specifically renewable energy generation systems, are used as examples. The aggregated data serve as the basis for a variety ... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8027364 | Electricity distribution network with stray voltage monitoring and method of transmission of information on said network The electricity distribution network comprises a plurality of interconnection lines for the distribution of electricity among a plurality of interconnection boxes. At least some of said interconnection boxes are combined with a control unit for detection of stray vo... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8015316 | Method and system for detecting messages in the presence of noise Disclosed is a method for transmitting messages between a transmitter and a receiver on a channel on which noise may be present. The messages are constituted by a sequence of data and comprise an initial portion (header) containing data to allow recognition of the m... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8002445 | LED luminaire with automatic luminance compensation An LED luminaire for normal or emergency lighting has a lamp section comprising a least one LED lamp, the LED lamp having an LED chip and a reflector section. The reflector section is formed of silver and is positioned to reflect light from the LED chip. A power sec... | 08/23/2011 |
| 8001813 | Lever activated deadbolt lock with deadlock feature To prevent intruders from forcing a deadbolt out of a locking position, the deadbolt has a sleeve defining inside and outside slots. Each of these slots has a horizontal section and a locked position vertical section. Cross members extend through the slots and are p... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7990243 | Gull wing surface mount magnetic structure A magnetic device is provided for placement on the top surface of a printed circuit board with surface mount connection on the bottom surface. The circuit board includes first and second sets of slots bisecting each other. The device includes a bobbin with a plurali... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7987889 | Wheel servicing apparatus and methods A wheel servicing machine provides a rotatable shaft having a retractable rod slidably disposed in a center bore of the rotatable shaft, wherein the retractable rod is longitudinally moveable relative to the shaft. A rotatable locking member is disposed on the dista... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7977894 | Programmed start ballast for gas discharge lamps An electronic ballast has control circuitry to provide a pre-heating signal to the filaments of a gas discharge lamp for a predetermined length of time before the lamp is ignited and, further, cease providing the pre-heating signal after the lamp has been ignited. | 07/12/2011 |
| 7966100 | Performance metrics in renewals energy systems Systems and methods are provided for collecting (200), aggregating (201), and analyzing data (202, 203) associated with the installation and deployment of systems. Energy systems, specifically renewable energy generating systems, are used as exa... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7963378 | Corrugated tubular energy absorbing structure An energy absorbing tubular structure is formed of a molded or extruded polymer. The tube has a quadrangular cross-section with rounded corners. The walls of tube are corrugated with alternating convex and concave corrugations surfaces having a continuous constant r... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7962247 | Computer implemented systems and methods for start-up, calibration and troubleshooting of an installed renewable energy system Systems and methods are provided for collecting, aggregating, and analyzing data associated with the installation and deployment of systems. Energy systems, (500) specifically renewable energy generation systems, are used as examples. The aggregated data serv... | 06/14/2011 |
| D639982 | Tile or paver member | 06/14/2011 |
| 7952897 | System for producing electric power from renewable sources and a control method thereof Described herein is a system for generating electric power, comprising: an electric-power source (1) having a preferential point of operation; a double-stage inverter (3A, 3B), which transfers the energy from said source to an external a.c.-volt... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7952303 | Electronic ballast for a gas discharge lamp with controlled filament heating during dimming An electronic ballast has control circuitry to operate a gas discharge lamp in both full and dimmed illumination modes. The electronic ballast also includes a full power circuit having a power control coupled to the dimming controller output to receive the dimming c... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7952302 | Lighting unit, a system comprising it and a control method thereof A method for controlling the operation of a lighting unit comprising a plurality of lighting elements and a dimmable power supply unit with an output for adjusting the brightness of at least some of the lighting elements. The method provides that for at least one di... | 05/31/2011 |
| D637807 | Horizontal holster | 05/17/2011 |
| 7923942 | Constant current source mirror tank dimmable ballast for high impedance lamps A constant current source mirror tank dimmable ballast operates multiple high impedance lamps in a stable and balanced manner. The dimmable ballast has an inverter connected to two third-order resonant circuits. These third-order resonant circuits dominate the trans... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7889463 | Fused lead wire for ballast protection A ballast having fused leads protects against uncommon, but harmful, ballast failures. The fused leads prevent a current in the primary coil of the ballast from exceeding a potentially damaging value. A thermal protector shorts the primary ballast coil if the temper... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7872185 | Collapsible stringed musical instrument A collapsible acoustic stringed instrument is disclosed having a hollow body with a soundboard, a back face and a spacer defining a sound chamber. A sound post is secured within the hollow body and engaging the soundboard and the back face. The sound post has a secu... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7871268 | Method and apparatus for selecting non-opacious dental materials A method and system for selecting dental constructions using translucent materials that match an individual's preexisting tooth appearance uses a set of reference templates. The reference templates are constructed from layers of various translucent dental materials ... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7866113 | System and method for adjustable repair and reinforcement of non-standard doors and jambs A door security system serves to substantially improve the reliability of the entire door assemblies with non-standard door jamb thicknesses. The system may comprise up to four or more components. An adjustable door jamb shield may be mounted around a door jamb on t... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7831488 | Systems, methods and computer readable medium providing automated third-party confirmations Systems and methods are defined for facilitating the audit process involving a business client, an auditor, and a third-party providing confirmations for the client upon the auditor's request. More specifically, an auditor receives an audit number from the audited c... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7800928 | Method of operating a resonant inverter using zero current switching and arbitrary frequency pulse width modulation A method of controlling a series-resonant, half-bridge inverter includes turning off the bottom switch and turning on the top switch the inverter when the current through the resonant inductor crosses the zero axis while the current is increasing, thereby insuring z... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7786391 | Ballast housing having rolled edge lead wire exit A ballast housing having a rolled edge lead wire exit for providing protection and strain relief to lead wires extending out from the housing. Grommets are not required in order to provide protection and strain relief to lead wires exiting the housing. The housing i... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7778894 | Method and apparatus for preparing tax information in the trucking industry Method and apparatus provide for electronically processing vehicle location data wherein the vehicle location data specifies a sequence of vehicle locations, and wherein the processing determines if the sequence of vehicle locations form a sequence of the vehicle's ... | 08/17/2010 |
| 7768755 | Over-voltage protection and automatic re-strike circuit for an electronic ballast The present invention is an overvoltage protection and automatic re-strike circuit for an electronic ballast. The electronic ballast has an inverter, a shut-down circuit, a safety circuit, a monitoring circuit, and an overvoltage protection circuit. The inverter pro... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7768215 | Method and system for controlling transient current signals in an electronic ballast An electronic ballast including a rectifying circuit to provide a signal representative of the current signal associated with a buck inductor, a monitoring circuit to provide a monitoring circuit signal when the signal representative of the buck inductor is within a... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7760526 | Method and device for the control of a three-phase inverter A method of controlling an inverter to includes determining the components of a phasor representing the output current from the inverter in a fixed reference system; determining the components of the current phasor in a reference system rotating at a velocity equal ... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7719204 | Method for controlling striations in a lamp powered by an electronic ballast A method for controlling striations in a lamp powered by an electronic ballast includes the steps of generating an asymmetric lamp current using an unbalanced circuit component in the electronic ballast and supplying that current to the lamp. The unbalanced circuit ... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7716065 | Method of generating and maintaining a patient medication profile The present invention discloses methods for conveniently providing a complete medication profile of a patient. A medication profile report may be obtained on-line by the patient or a registered provider. In addition to information regarding the expiration of prescri... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7705544 | Lamp circuit with controlled ignition pulse voltages over a wide range of ballast-to-lamp distances A lamp ignition circuit provides a high voltage electrical pulse to ignite a gas discharge lamp. A non-linear filter element within a charge circuit regulates the voltage of the ignition pulse such that the ignition pulse remains within a prescribed voltage range ov... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7679294 | Method and system to eliminate fluorescent lamp striations by using capacitive energy compensation A method and system for reducing and/or eliminating striations from gas discharge lamps powered by an electronic ballast charges a capacitive energy device, which is coupled in parallel with the lamp, when the capacitive energy device detects that a predetermined la... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7630185 | Electronic circuit breaker An electronic circuit breaker includes an input for connection to a power-supply and an output for connection to a load. Connected in circuit between the input and the output are a switch, a relay, and a limitation block, which controls the switch to cause at least ... | 12/08/2009 |
| 7623942 | Method and apparatus for selecting non-opacious dental materials A method and system for selecting dental constructions using translucent materials that match an individual's preexisting tooth appearance uses a set of reference templates. The reference templates are constructed from layers of various translucent dental materials ... | 11/24/2009 |
| 7584887 | Co-branded correlated redeemable cards A card carrier is displayed for sale with at least two independently redeemable cards affixed thereto. A barcode is displayed on the package that is associated with an account number encoded on a magnetic stripe or barcode of each of the cards. Both cards are valued... | 09/08/2009 |
| 7456942 | Dynamic refractometer A refractometer computer controls the rotation of a rotary plate upon which are mounted a prism optically coupled via an optical window to a spectroscopic cell holding a resin exhibiting a dynamic refractive index during photocuring. The computer system positions th... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7443113 | Software controlled electronic dimming ballast A software controlled electronic dimming ballast for preheating, striking, and varying the dimming level of a lamp. In one embodiment, the ballast includes an EMI filter circuit, an AC/DC converter circuit, a PFC circuit, an inverter circuit, and a software controll... | 10/28/2008 |
