Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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 |
| 8023924 | Method for reducing power consumption in a multi-user digital communication system and mobile station employing the method A method for reducing power consumption in a multi-user digital communication system and mobile station employing the method adjusts receive and transmit mode durations of the mobile device using downlink and uplink allocations from a base station of the system, as ... | 09/20/2011 |
| 7967731 | System and method for motivating users to improve their wellness A system and method for motivating users to improve their wellness utilizes complex event processing on sensor and user-interaction data of the users collected over time using inference and predictive models in order to deliver personalized interactions to motive th... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7912137 | OFDMA device and method of correcting frequency offset in OFDMA signals An Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) device and method of correcting frequency offset in OFDMA signals computes an estimated frequency offset, which is used for producing a frequency offset-compensated mixer signal using a reference clock signal.... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7908394 | Apparatus and method for transmitting outgoing data using data descriptors An apparatus and method for transmitting outgoing data uses data descriptors for multiple sets of contiguous data blocks stored in buffers. When new sets of contiguous data blocks are created due to acknowledgement signals for particular data blocks of the multiple ... | 03/15/2011 |
| 7849386 | Decoder and method for decoding a tail-biting convolutional encoded signal using Viterbi decoding scheme A decoder and method for decoding a tail-biting convolutional encoded signal using Viterbi decoding scheme performs a traceback operation for a first portion of a total code block, which includes a code block of the tail-biting convolutional encoded signal and a pad... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7876693 | Testing and error recovery across multiple switching fabrics A packet-based traffic switching system with error detection and correction without taking the system offline. The system tests offline paths without interfering with other online paths. Also, the system tests online paths even while no data cell traffic is sent ove... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7817735 | Device and method of performing channel estimation for OFDM-based wireless communication system A device and method of performing channel estimation for an OFDM-based wireless communication system performs a Least Square interpolation with a statistical channel profile consideration on pilot channel estimates to derive data channel estimates at data subcarrier... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7817533 | Device and method for performing channel estimation for OFDM-based signals with variable pilot subcarrier spacing A device and method for performing channel estimation for an OFDM-based wireless communication system modifies pilot subcarrier spacing to use a set of interpolation coefficients associated with a different pilot subcarrier spacing. ... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7801045 | Hierarchical rate limiting with proportional limiting A network flow controller to manage network traffic bandwidth is described. Embodiments of the network flow controller include a hierarchical flow creditor, a proportional flow creditor, and a rate limiter. The hierarchical flow creditor is configured to manage a pl... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7782763 | Failure protection in a provider backbone bridge network using forced MAC flushing A technique for operating a network involves controlling the black-holing of traffic by forcing customer source MAC address (CMAC)-to-backbone source MAC address (BMAC) associations at provider backbone bridge (PBB) provider edge (PE) devices to be flushed from thei... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7775853 | Configurable polishing apparatus A polishing apparatus for polishing semiconductor wafers comprises a main polishing structure, which includes a plurality of polishing tables, a plurality of polishing heads and a plurality of load-and-unload stations, and an add-on polishing structure, which includ... | 08/17/2010 |
| 7733888 | Pointer allocation by prime numbers A prime number based pointer allocation technique. A packet-forwarding system incorporating the technique stores cells of a packet in packet memory, according to allocated pointers that have a fixed correspondence to locations in the packet memory. Each packet input... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7733880 | Managing routes in a router utilizing threshold-specific discard algorithms Managing routes in a router involves the implementation of threshold-specific discard algorithms to discard redundant routes in an intelligent fashion based upon the volume of routes in the router. By employing threshold-specific discard algorithms to intelligently ... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7733856 | Obtaining path information related to a virtual private LAN services (VPLS) based network Path information is obtained in a VPLS-based network by generating special Layer 2 frames (referred to herein as “trace-request frames”), performing source MAC filtering to identify the trace-request frames, and generating a special frame (referred to herein as ... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7701936 | Obtaining path information related to a bridged network Path information is obtained in a bridged network by generating an L2 frame with a special MAC address in the header and a target MAC address embedded in the payload of the frame. The special MAC address in the header of the frame triggers the collection of path inf... | 04/20/2010 |
| 7674154 | Apparatus and method for polishing objects using object cleaners An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, uses at least one object cleaner, which may be a movable object cleaner. The movable object cleaner allows access to different parts of the apparatus for maintenance. ... | 03/09/2010 |
| 7653911 | Implicit interprocess communications (IPC) versioning support Compatibility between applications in a network node with a distributed architecture is maintained after application upgrades by associating version compatibility information with interprocess communications (IPC) message structures and then utilizing the version co... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7653718 | Shell specific filtering and display of log messages A method for filtering and selectively displaying log messages generated by a network node with a distributed architecture is disclosed. In one embodiment, log messages generated locally on the line cards are collected by Secondary Log Managers residing on the line ... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7652988 | Hardware-based rate control for bursty traffic A hardware-based rate control engine is designed to allow credits to be accumulated over multiple time-slices up to a maximum credit limit. The rate control engine is also allowed to dispatch packets up to a maximum drain rate during each time-slice as long as suffi... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7628574 | Apparatus and method for processing substrates using one or more vacuum transfer chamber units An apparatus and method for processing substrates uses one or more vacuum transfer chamber units to transfer some of the substrates between at least one load lock chamber unit and at least one vacuum process chamber unit. ... | 12/08/2009 |
| 7595480 | Optical encoder with encoder member having one or more digital diffractive optic regions An optical encoder uses an encoder member with one or more digital diffractive optic regions to optically manipulate an incident beam of light to extract relative displacement information of the encoder member. ... | 09/29/2009 |
| 7591711 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more polishing surfaces An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more polishing surfaces, multiple wafer carriers and at least one load-and-unload cup. The load-and-unload cup may be configured to move to and from the wafer carriers in a ... | 09/22/2009 |
| 7566863 | Optical encoder with diffractive encoder member An optical encoder uses an encoder member with a digital diffractive track to optically manipulate an incident beam of light into manipulated beams of light, which are detected as spots of light that represent a digital absolute position value of the encoder member.... | 07/28/2009 |
| 7453676 | RC-triggered ESD power clamp circuit and method for providing ESD protection An RC-triggered electrostatic discharge (ESD) power clamp circuit and method for providing ESD protection uses a control circuit with a latch to selectively activate a clamping transistor to discharge ESD on a first voltage rail to a second voltage rail. ... | 11/18/2008 |
| 7417399 | Integrated motor device and method of setting and reading driver configuration parameters using driver configuration data embedded in driver control signals An integrated motor device with driver circuitry and method of setting and reading configuration parameters of the driver circuitry uses configuration data embedded in driver control signals to set at least one configuration parameter of the driver circuitry. ... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7405532 | Microstepper motor device and method of controlling the device A microstepper motor device and method of controlling the device uses a microcontroller that provides current sinusoidal values from at least one array of sinusoidal values to power circuitry of the device in response to control signals. The power circuitry is conne... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7397266 | System and method for testing the electromagnetic susceptibility of an electronic display unit A system and method for testing the electromagnetic (EM) susceptibility of an electronic display unit monitors the light emitted from the electronic display unit as EM noise is applied at a particular testing location of the electronic display unit. An error in the ... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7374471 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more pivotable load-and-unload cups An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more pivotable load-and-unload cups to transfer the objects to and/or from one or more object carriers to polish the objects. Each pivotable load-and-unload cup may be confi... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7367866 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using pivotable load/unload cups An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes pivotable load/unload cups to transfer the objects to object carriers to polish the objects on at least one polishing surface. The pivoting axes of the pivotable load/unload cups a... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7364496 | Polishing head for polishing semiconductor wafers A polishing head and method for handling and polishing semiconductor wafers uses a base structure with at least one recess region and an outer flexible membrane that can conform to the at least one recess region to form at least one depression to hold a semiconducto... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7306002 | System and method for wet cleaning a semiconductor wafer A system and method for cleaning a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, utilizes a rotatable wafer supporting assembly with a cylindrical body to provide stability for the substrate being cleaned, even at high rotational speeds. The rotatable wafer supporting a... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7258124 | Apparatus and method for treating surfaces of semiconductor wafers using ozone An apparatus and method for treating surfaces of semiconductor wafers with a reactive gas, such as ozone, utilizes streams of gaseous material ejected from a gas nozzle structure to create depressions on or holes through a boundary layer of processing fluid formed o... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7238614 | Methods for fabricating one or more metal damascene structures in a semiconductor wafer Methods for fabricating one or more metal (e.g., copper) damascene structures in a semiconductor wafer use at least three polishing steps to reduce erosion topography in the resulting metal damascene structures and/or increase throughput. The polishing steps may be ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7223153 | Apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor wafers using one or more polishing surfaces An apparatus and method for polishing objects, such as semiconductor wafers, utilizes one or more polishing surfaces, multiple wafer carriers and at least one load-and-unload cup. The load-and-unload cup may be configured to move to and from the wafer carriers in a ... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7051743 | Apparatus and method for cleaning surfaces of semiconductor wafers using ozone An apparatus and method for cleaning surfaces of semiconductor wafers utilizes streams of gaseous material ejected from a gas nozzle structure to create depressions on or holes through a boundary layer of cleaning fluid formed on a semiconductor wafer surface to inc... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7022193 | Apparatus and method for treating surfaces of semiconductor wafers using ozone An apparatus and method for treating surfaces of semiconductor wafers with a reactive gas, such as ozone, utilizes streams of gaseous material ejected from a gas nozzle structure to create depressions on or holes through a boundary layer of processing fluid formed o... | 04/04/2006 |
