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.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7133726 | Thermal cycler for PCR An instrument for PCR comprising an assembly, a heated cover, and a computer. The assembly can include a sample block, Peltier devices, and a heat sink, clamped together. The sample block temperature can be changed by controlling the Peltier devices with the compute... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7114554 | Controller interface with multiple day programming A controller equipped with a user interface having multiple-day programming capabilities, including methods of programming such devices, are disclosed. The user interface may include one or more menus or screens that can be used to program a schedule for one or more... | 10/03/2006 |
| 6994156 | Air-conditioning system with thermal storage An air-conditioning system with thermal storage system for storing cooling capacity. The storage system comprises a quantity of fill material that preferably comprises water or similar liquid that is located in a cavity in the ground. The fill material may also incl... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6986261 | Method and system for controlling chiller and semiconductor processing system A semiconductor processing system includes a control section that refers to recipe information on a process sequence, thereby detects that a processing apparatus will shift from an ordinary operation state to a long idle state, and switches thermo-medium circulation... | 01/17/2006 |
| 6293471 | Heater control device and method to save energy A device and method is provided for automatically controlling the heating element(s) of an electric hot water heater to minimize electric energy consumption over a prolonged time period by projecting the future need for hot water based on it's use in prio... | 09/25/2001 |
| 5971284 | Apparatus for regulating heater cycles to improve forced-air heating system efficiency A method and apparatus of regulating cycles of a burner in a forced air heating system. A control unit uses a sensor at an output of a heat exchanger to make measurements of a temperature of air output from the heat exchanger. The control unit observes te... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5937942 | Electronic programmable thermostat with temporary reset An electronic programmable thermostat having a program set made up of a plurality of program start times and program temperature values for a daily time period which can be automatically vacated upon initiation by the thermostat user. The user may initiat... | 08/17/1999 |
| 5926390 | Programmed temperature controller A programmed temperature controller including a difference detector which detects a temperature difference ƊT between a quick-response temperature TC2 and a slow-response temperature TC3 at a quickly-responding portion and a slowly-responding portion of ... | 07/20/1999 |
| 5782296 | Auto-programmable electronic thermostat The invention is a method for programming a programmable thermostat having a default program set and one or more pre-programmed program sets, wherein each pre-programmed program set has a plurality of times and a plurality of temperatures. The method incl... | 07/21/1998 |
| 5743464 | System for controlling work temperature by a programmed controller A temperature program pattern PP for desired change of surface temperature TC1 of a work 11 with time is set by a temperature setter 31. Work temperature-difference Ɗtpv between the surface temperature TC1 and inside temperature TC2 of the wor... | 04/28/1998 |
| 5673850 | Programmable thermostat with rotary dial program setting The invention is directed towards a programmable thermostat which includes a programming device for generating programs and a temperature comparison device to operate a temperature-modifying device, such as a furnace or air-conditioning system. This progr... | 10/07/1997 |
| 5557941 | Refrigeration unit and method of operating same A refrigeration unit, and method of operating same, having a compressor driven by a prime mover. The prime mover is selectively operable in either a continuous mode which includes heating and cooling cycles, or in start-stop cycling mode which includes co... | 09/24/1996 |
| 5511724 | Adaptive climate control system An adaptive electronic climate control (ECC) system for a vehicle that allows adjustments to the temperature setting and blower speed controls of the ECC system to teach the system to automatically be set to the vehicle operator's comfort level. If the ve... | 04/30/1996 |
| 5431339 | Method and apparatus for controlling temperature A method of controlling temperature inside a chamber according to a temperature profile which includes a plurality of segments, each of which has an increasing or decreasing temperature period and a subsequent constant temperature period. An operator only... | 07/11/1995 |
| 5333675 | Apparatus and method for performing automated amplification of nucleic acid sequences and assays using heating and cooling steps There is disclosed herein a machine for performing nucleic acid amplification under computer control. The machine utilizes any one of a number of heating and cooling systems under control of a host computer which directs the heating and cooling systems to... | 08/02/1994 |
| 5289362 | Energy control system A control system for controlling a climate control device, such as an HVAC device within a premise, utilizes real time price tier data supplied by the utility company to achieve economical temperature regulation of the premise. The control system regulate... | 02/22/1994 |
| 5251813 | Indication of low battery voltage condition by altering of temperature setpoint In a digital thermostat powered solely by batteries, when the battery voltage drops to a predetermined value, the thermostat effects a visual indication of the existence of a low voltage condition. If the batteries are not replaced within a predetermined ... | 10/12/1993 |
| 5247989 | Modulated temperature control for environmental chamber A temperature-controlled environmental chamber includes a resistance heater powered through a first solid state relay and a refrigeration unit including an electrically powered thermally controlled suction throttling valve connected in the refrigerant lin... | 09/28/1993 |
| 4963499 | Method for the calorimetry of chemical processes A calorimeter for measuring the thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of chemical reactions, microbial fermentations, and other processes of industrial importance is described. The present invention also relates to a method of operation of this appara... | 10/16/1990 |
| 4771392 | Programmable time varying control system and method An electronic system and method are disclosed for controlling a measured temperature during a sequence of time intervals, in accordance with a sequence of selected reference temperatures, each corresponding to one of the intervals. The values of the refer... | 09/13/1988 |
| 4725001 | Electronic thermostat employing adaptive cycling Environmental heating/cooling systems are controlled by an interactive microprocessor and have continuous on-time and adaptive cycling modes wherein continuous on-time brings the temperature to a programmed set point and cycling precisely maintains that t... | 02/16/1988 |
| 4712607 | Cryosystem for biological material A cryo-cell assembly for biological material including a space for receiving the material, the space being at least partly enclosed by means suitable for conducting heat from the space to a heat sink and including heat generating means in heat conducting ... | 12/15/1987 |
| 4682279 | Operation mode controller In an operation mode controller wherein a sensor for sensing a quantity of a variable to be controlled is provided and a plurality of operation modes are changed from one to another in accordance with the sensed quantity to set any desired mode, the contr... | 07/21/1987 |
| 4674027 | Thermostat means adaptively controlling the amount of overshoot or undershoot of space temperature A microcomputer based clock operated thermostat is operated to adjust a ramprate of a setpoint temperature upon a setpoint change. The microcomputer in the thermostat is capable of determining the amount of overshoot or undershoot between the air temperat... | 06/16/1987 |
| 4669654 | Electronic programmable thermostat An electronic programmable thermostat for the control of a furnace or air conditioner is useful as a replacement for a conventional non-programmable thermostat and mounts on the non-programmable thermostat's wall plate to achieve support, electrical conne... | 06/02/1987 |
| 4660759 | Optimum start/stop dependent upon both space temperature and outdoor air temperature A system for determining the optimum stop time of an air conditioning system within a building so that energy can be conserved by shutting down the temperature control system an amount of lead time prior to end of occupancy of said building wherein said a... | 04/28/1987 |
| 4506827 | Battery powered thermostat The thermostat of the present invention includes a sensor for providing a signal representative of the actual temperature within a space. A microcomputer is coupled to the sensor and intermittently utilizes power at a first level when in an operating stat... | 03/26/1985 |
| 4393662 | Control system for refrigeration or air conditioning installation A method and apparatus for controlling principle power consuming components such as compressors and fans for a refrigeration or air conditioning system so it will operate automatically with minimal energy consumption despite changing environmental and sys... | 07/19/1983 |
| 4390959 | Optimal start programmer An optimal start programmer for starting a heating or cooling cycle for an intermittently occupied building includes a digital counter which is enabled at the start of a pre-occupancy "search" period and accumulates counts from a timing source. A digital ... | 06/28/1983 |
| 4373351 | Control apparatus for an air conditioning system providing a plurality of energy-saving modes of operation A microprocessor based control for a heat pump system providing at least two setback temperature settings individually selected by the system user to be effective during different time periods of the day, also individually selectable by the user. In the e... | 02/15/1983 |
| 4356962 | Thermostat with adaptive operating cycle An electronic thermostat operative to be connected to a furnace or other temperature modifying apparatus, to control its state of operation, includes means for generating a desired temperature set point signal and means for measuring ambient temperature o... | 11/02/1982 |
| 4334576 | Thermostat control A thermostat control for a heat pump thermostat allows the heat pump to change its temperature setting automatically and systematically minimizing the use of resistive heating with the heat pump as a backup to accomplish the temperature change. A cam havi... | 06/15/1982 |
| 4298946 | Electronically controlled programmable digital thermostat An electronic digital programmable wall thermostat system for controlling heating and cooling systems supplying an indoor area or space. The thermostat includes a digital clock, a display for displaying desired parameters of time and temperature and a dat... | 11/03/1981 |
| 4277018 | Clock thermostat apparatus for resetting the temperature of a space during selected time periods with means for varying the pickup time as a function of the drop in space temperature during the setback period A clock thermostat apparatus for controlling the temperature in a space at different temperatures depending upon the time period of the time controlled apparatus has a second temperature responsive apparatus responsive to space temperature for determining... | 07/07/1981 |
| 4248375 | Clock thermostat apparatus having means for reducing the setback temperature when the normal temperature selection is turned down A clock thermostat apparatus adapted for controlling temperature conditioning apparatus maintains a normal control temperature in a space and during certain selected time periods deviating from the normal temperature control by resetting the normal temper... | 02/03/1981 |
| 4206872 | Electronic thermostat A thermostat for generating control signals for a furnace, air conditioner, or the like, employs a constant frequency, periodically alternating electrical source and an oscillator incorporating an element having a thermal-sensitive electrical characterist... | 06/10/1980 |
| 4191328 | Integral thermostat-digital clock unit An integral thermostat and digital clock is disclosed which operates with conventional two-wire systems connected between the thermostat and remotely operated relay. The two wires are used to carry a control signal from the thermostat to the remote relay ... | 03/04/1980 |
| 4174807 | Autocycling control circuit for heating and/or air conditioning systems An autocycling control circuit unit is provided for controlling heating and/or airconditioning systems to provide controlled comfort and fuel savings. The unit contains a night thermostat which is continually coupled to the system for maintaining a minimu... | 11/20/1979 |
| 4137966 | Simulation oven An oven with temperature-independent sections permits objects placed within t to experience the uneven heating and temperature gradient problems associated with real life conditions. The number of sections can vary depending on the gradients desired.... | 02/06/1979 |
| 4054245 | Timer controlled space thermostat with battery operated timer A timer controlled space thermostat includes a timer movement energized by a rechargeable battery. A first timer operated switch is in circuit with temperature responsive switching means and space conditioning apparatus control means and is operative to a... | 10/18/1977 |
