Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8185136 | Mobile communication device capable of functioning in transmitter disabling state A mobile communication device, such as a cellular phone, for example, is capable of functioning in a transmitter disabling mode and is set to the transmitter disabling mode in automatic response to a power-on operation and then automatically changed to a transmitter... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8112100 | Location-based status checking Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods of location-based status checking. Such a method comprises scheduling an event to occur at a scheduled time at a defined location; inviting an individual to attend the event; querying the individual a... | 02/07/2012 |
| 8103292 | System for limiting use of mobile communication devices within a vehicle A system and apparatus for limiting use of mobile communication devices which utilizes vehicle diagnostic information transmitted via the Bluetooth™ communications protocol to a mobile device (PDA, cell phone, laptop, portable printer, GPS, iPod, etc.). If the veh... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8086251 | Chargers cooperating with portable electronic devices Generally, the present invention provides accessories for one or more portable electronic devices (PEDs) and related methods. An accessory includes a station that can support a PED. The PED is also equipped to generate an action signal, above and beyond the regular ... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8064929 | Method of optimizing data communication devices' auto-on functionality In a network comprising mobile data devices having corresponding transceivers, a method and apparatus for temporally spreading network traffic associated with auto-on functionality of the data devices, the method comprising activating transceivers of the data device... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8055276 | Crisis response system including cell jamming device A crisis response system including a throw module and a command unit connected by a communication cable. The throw module includes at least one covert video camera hidden from view. The covert video camera provides a video signal to the command unit showing the curr... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8046004 | Mobile terminal with location notification The level of detail of position information about one's own location is expressed in terms of a disclosure level when announcing one's own location so as to prevent the supply of more information about oneself to the other party than is necessary. A mobile terminal ... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8036683 | Coordination among multiple co-located radio modules Techniques involving the coordination of wireless activities are disclosed. For example, an apparatus may include two or more transceivers. These transceivers may include a first transceiver to communicate wirelessly across cellular links, and a second transceiver t... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8032157 | Apparatus, method and computer program product providing inclusion of local area information in broadcast messages and maintenance of radio access network black list A method includes receiving location area-related information, associating the location area-related information with a neighbor cell information to determine if a cell belongs to a forbidden location area, and avoiding selection of the cell if the cell is determine... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8014795 | GPSS-based system and method for enabling or disabling cellphones in predefined zones A system and method are described for initiating, enabling, disabling or restoring cellphone operations when the cellphone is in a zone, which is where cellphone operation has to be so altered. A courtesy signal transmitter transmits a courtesy signal containing zon... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8005490 | In-vehicle apparatus with radio transmission restricting function and radio transmission restricting system An in-vehicle apparatus determines in the vicinity the presence of a portable terminal designated with a device requiring restriction on radio transmission as a device name thereof. Radio transmission from a cellular phone is thereby restricted. In contrast, when de... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7966025 | Modification of portable communications device operation in vehicles Restrictions on use of a cellular telephone in a vehicle, such as an automobile, are imposed using a global position system (GPS) device to determine the location of a vehicle in relation to geographic regions in which legal or customer restrictions on cellular tele... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7933611 | Disabling operation of features on a handheld mobile communication device based upon location Methods and devices for implementing subsystem or functional aspect restrictions on a wireless handheld communication device. Data defining geographical boundaries of a restricted operating area is stored on the device. The present position of the device is ascertai... | 04/26/2011 |
| 7929979 | Wireless communication method, wireless communication system, and mode switching method In a mobile terminal (10), a position information which is received by a position information detecting section (12) is transmitted to a base station. A determining section (34) in the base station determines whether or not the received position... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7917159 | Method and apparatus for controlling a quiet zone for wireless units In one embodiment, a device in an IP-based cellular wireless communication system includes a monitoring arrangement and a sender arrangement. The monitoring arrangement arranged to detect a location of a cellular phone device with respect to an area of restricted ac... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7899471 | Methods, systems and computer program products for remotely controlling wireless terminals based on premises-specific rules Wireless terminals are remotely controlled by identifying a wireless terminal that is located at a premises and obtaining at least one operational authorization rule for the wireless terminal that was identified, and that applies to the premises at which the wireles... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7899470 | Transmitting an assignment through wireless transmission A customer automatically receiving an assignment on his wireless device without the need to visit a reservation desk is provided. When the customer initially makes a reservation with a vendor, a computer records the wireless device's identification. When the custome... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7873374 | Modification of portable communications device operation in vehicles Restrictions on use of a cellular telephone in a vehicle, such as an automobile, are imposed using a global position system (GPS) device to determine the location of a vehicle in relation to geographic regions in which legal or customer restrictions on cellular tele... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7783307 | Security systems for providing mobile device feature access control A mobile communication unit having at least one operating mode comprising a security unit for enabling/disabling at least one operating mode, whereas the security unit is designed in such a way that at least one operating mode is temporarily disabled for the user of... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7778650 | Method, apparatus, and program for automated property adjustment in a cellular network A mechanism is provided for detecting when a wireless device is entering a quiet zone. An out-of-range condition is created in an entryway to a quiet zone. When a wireless device is in a transition zone, the device transmits a re-scan message with a unit identificat... | 08/17/2010 |
| 7756531 | Method and apparatus for avoiding call disturbances and facilitating urgent calls based on a caller's decision A telecommunication system and method for notifying a calling party, via a Preventive Disturbance Announcement (PDA), that a called party is in an area where the called party would prefer not to be disturbed with non-urgent calls. The calling party is then given the... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7715854 | Method and apparatus for actively monitoring personal cellular devices and controlling access to a celluar communications network with an airborne mobile platform A method for monitoring and controlling operation of wireless personal electronic devices (PEDs) present on a mobile platform (MP). The method may involve defining at least one phase of operation of the MP where the use of wireless PEDs is prohibited. A wireless com... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7715853 | Terrestrial repeater system for use with craft-mounted base stations A craft-mounted repeater system processes signal properties (e.g., signal strength) between terrestrial (ground-based) wireless networks and mobile users that are aboard crafts (e.g., airplanes and/or ships) equipped to allow the user's mobile communications device ... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7689231 | Territorial enforcement of device functionality The present invention discloses an enforcement system for controlling security in a territory including: (a) a multifunctional device having a plurality of device functionalities; (b) a disabling mechanism for reversibly disabling at least one device functionality; ... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7668557 | Methods for ring tone supression informing and for informing a cellular telephone with configuration data Methods for suppressing ring tones in cellular telephones and for informing a cellular telephone with configuration data are described. The method for informing a cellular telephone includes detecting a cellular telephone that enters a space time zone associated wit... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7630723 | Method and apparatus to automatically silence a mobile device A wireless silencing device transmits a wireless silence signal in or near a region where extraneous sound is undesired. Wireless devices in receipt of the wireless silence signal may use the signal to determine whether to enable an auto silence mode of operation. | 12/08/2009 |
| 7623875 | System and method for preventing unauthorized wireless communications which attempt to provide input to or elicit output from a mobile device A monitoring system and method for controlling access to, and especially protecting against unauthorized requests to provide input to, e.g., program, or elicit output from, a vehicular or other mobile device, such as an electronic control unit (ECU), adapted for use... | 11/24/2009 |
| 7620405 | Method and system for providing a single unified channel quieting/measurement request element in an 802.11 wireless local area network A channel quieting/measurement request element is provided for use in a wireless local area network. The unified element of the invention integrates a dual capability for performing channel quieting and for making measurement requests of one or more stations in the ... | 11/17/2009 |
| 7437168 | Method and apparatus for controlling a quiet zone for wireless units In an IP-based cellular wireless communication system, systems and methods for spatially controlling cellular phone usage are provided. Entry of a cellular phone device into an area of restricted phone access (“quiet zone”) is detected and an IP message identify... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7428417 | System and method for presence perimeter rule downloading A telecommunications system includes a plurality of network clients (150) including a positioning controller (504) and a communications controller (502); and a positioning server (152) including a coordinating controller (161) for ... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7406318 | Apparatus and method for positioning mobile station An apparatus and a method for calculating an enhanced observed time difference from a mobile station and transmitting the enhanced observed time difference to a servicing mobile location center for a location-based service are provided. The apparatus comprises means... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7400891 | Methods, systems and computer program products for remotely controlling wireless terminals Wireless terminals are remotely controlled by identifying a wireless terminal that is located at a premises and obtaining at least one operational authorization rule for the wireless terminal that was identified, and that applies to the premises at which the wireles... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7398057 | Security messenger system The invention provides a communication and control system and method including a portable control and display unit, such as a portable handheld pocket PC, an aircraft mounted integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite receiver, a VHF radio modem, an Aircra... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7395073 | Method and apparatus for location estimation using region of confidence filtering A method for location estimation employs filtering in both the radio signal domain and the space domain separately. The method filters raw values of the run-time radio signal measurements to reject distorted inputs. A region of confidence (RoC) is formed according t... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7395055 | Mobile wireless presence and situation management system and method A method for controlling the communications of a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) in a wireless network using presence and situation information begins by generating presence and situation information pertaining to the WTRU. The presence and situation data is s... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7373151 | Distributed dynamic channel allocation technique for multi-carrier CDMA cellular systems with mobile base stations A distributed dynamic channel allocation algorithm for a multi-carrier CDMA cellular system having at least one mobile base station. The distributed dynamic channel allocation algorithm uses channel power measurements from both the requesting mobile station and the ... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7373155 | Method for positioning mobile station and repeater thereof The present invention relates to a method for positioning a mobile station and a repeater thereof. Said method comprises: the mobile communication network, when receiving a positioning request from a mobile station, instructing repeaters to send auxiliary positionin... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7373107 | Ultra-wideband wireless backplane A backplane for an electronic data communication system is disclosed. The backplane comprises at least one ultra-wideband transmitter configured to transmit data in the form of a plurality of pulses in a wireless manner and at least one ultra-wideband receiver confi... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7369860 | Data protection for position-dependent services The invention relates to a privacy function check which is efficient in terms of network load, and is carried out by means of a method for requesting the agreement of a user of a mobile radio terminal of a mobile radio network, relating to the transmission of the po... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7369863 | Positional data recording The invention relates to positional data recording, and in particular, to a method and system for polling the concordance of a mobile radio terminal user for the transmission of positional data to a poller. Specifically, polling data are supplemented by a specificat... | 05/06/2008 |
