...that to encourage use of his new invention, the shopping cart, market owner Sylvan Goldman hired fake shoppers to push the carts around his store in Oklahoma City? Seems his customers were reluctant to give up their hand-carried baskets.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8049428 | Uni-directional light emitting diode drive circuit in pulsed power series resonance The present invention is disclosed by that the series connected capacitive impedance and inductive impedance are powered by a pulsed power, thereby to produce the bi-directional divided power in series resonance at each impedance, and be rectified by a rectifier dev... | 11/01/2011 |
| 7956547 | Dielectric barrier discharge lamp lighting device A dielectric barrier discharge lamp (14) has an inside electrode (142) in a tube axis direction within the airtight container (141), which has ultraviolet transmission properties and a long tube shape, and an outside electrode (143) havin... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7368879 | Pendulum resonant converter and method A resonant switching converter comprising a first pair of series connected switches comprising a high side switch and a low side switch coupled across a DC input voltage, there being a first switched node between the switches; a second pair of series connected switc... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7358689 | Phase-control power controller for converting a line voltage to a RMS load voltage A phase-control power controller converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage and includes a phase-control clipping circuit that clips a load voltage to provide the RMS load voltage. The power controller may be in a base of a lamp and connected to a lamp terminal.... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7355348 | Ballast for a discharge lamp having a continuous-operation control circuit The invention relates to a novel ballast for a discharge lamp, in which a continuous-operation control circuit is brought out of operation when a physical operation, which defines a preheating time, of a preheating timer has as yet not been sufficiently returned if ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7352134 | Lamp containing fixed reverse phase switching power supply with time-based phase pulse triggering control A lamp contains a lamp voltage conversion circuit within the lamp and connected to a lamp terminal. The voltage conversion circuit includes a phase-control clipping circuit that clips a load voltage and provides an RMS load voltage to the lamp. The phase-control cli... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7342359 | Forward/reverse hybrid switching power supply with time-based pulse triggering control A phase-control power controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage includes a fixed phase forward/reverse hybrid phase-control clipping circuit that performs phase-control clipping of a load voltage to provide an RMS load voltage. A conduction angl... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7339321 | Discharge-lamp ballast in particular for a vehicle headlight Ballast comprising input terminals receiving a DC voltage coming from a supply source on the vehicle, a chopping supply circuit functioning at a predetermined chopping frequency in order to supply as an output a voltage supplying the discharge lamp, and a filtering ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7330000 | Discharge lighting bulbs control system A device comprising energy saving circuitry incorporated within lighting systems of the type utilizing discharge lamps, wherein the circuitry includes at least one transformer having a primary and secondary windings oppositely wound to establish different fields of ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7321202 | System and method for reducing flicker of compact gas discharge lamps at low lamp light output level A lamp lighting system allows dimming of a compact gas discharge lamp to a low light output level without perceptible flicker. When the system receives a request to dim the lamp to the low level, the lamp is operated at an intermediate output level prior to operatin... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7301291 | Power controller having current limited RMS regulated output A power controller converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage for a lamp, and includes a switch and a microcontroller that operates the switch to define the RMS load voltage. The microcontroller senses a load voltage of the lamp, compares the sensed load voltage... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7291984 | Method of reducing RMS load voltage in a lamp using pulse width modulation A method of converting a line voltage to an RMS load voltage in a lamp includes modulating a load voltage with a pulse width modulation circuit that is entirely within the lamp and provides an RMS load voltage to a light emitting element of the lamp. Conduction is t... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7286124 | Circuit arrangement for the AC power supply of a plasma display panel A circuit arrangement for commutating the AC voltage of a plasma display panel, in which the losses and electro-magnetic interference which occur as a result of the influence of parasitic resistances (coils, supply lines, semiconductor switches) and the attendant ha... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7279851 | Systems and methods for fault protection in a balancing transformer An apparatus and methods for balancing current in multiple negative impedance gas discharge lamp loads. Embodiments advantageously include balancing transformer configurations that are relatively cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and good performing. Embodiments ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7276858 | Decorative lighting string with stacked rectification An improved decorative light string circuit comprises full bridge rectification located in or downstream of the front plug, wherein the rectification circuit contains one or more voltage reducing and/or filtering elements in order to reduce or limit LED drive curren... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7276025 | Electrical adapter for medical diagnostic instruments using LEDs as illumination sources An adapter for permitting a medical diagnostic instrument having an illumination source including at least one LED (light emitting diode) to be used with a power supply normally configured for use with a diagnostic instrument having at least one incandescent lamp as... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7274149 | Lamp with integral pulse width modulated voltage control circuit A lamp has a voltage controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage suitable for operation of the lamp's light emitting element, where the voltage controller is entirely within a lamp base and uses pulse width modulation to define the RMS load voltag... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7274148 | Lamp having fixed forward phase switching power supply with time-based triggering A lamp contains a lamp voltage conversion circuit that is entirely within a base for converting a line voltage at a lamp terminal to an RMS load voltage at a light emitting element. The voltage conversion circuit includes a forward clipping circuit with a three-term... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7275013 | Plasma anemometer and method for using same Methods and systems are described for a system for obtaining information regarding a flow. These methods and systems comprise a signal generator configured to generate an alternating current signal at a carrier frequency and a transformer arranged to receive the gen... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7261458 | Semiconductor chip with container and contact elements for use in a light socket A shunt device for use in a light socket includes a first semiconductor chip and a first container having a receiving surface for receiving the first semiconductor chip therein and having an open surface through which the first semiconductor chip is exposed and a fi... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7242372 | Plasma display apparatus A plasma display apparatus, in which a sustain output device (transistor) with a voltage rating in accordance with the sustain voltage can be used even when a voltage greater than the sustain voltage is applied to a sustain electrode in the reset period and the addr... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7224125 | Dimmable fluorescent lamp package A lamp package includes a base for insertion into an electrical socket, a complete dimmable ballast circuit contained within and electrically connected to the base, and a fluorescent lamp, including a CFLP, connected to and dimmed through the ballast circuit. The ba... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7224151 | Fixed phase power controller with analog trigger A fixed phase power controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage includes an analog control block with a capacitor that receives an input that is independent of a change in magnitude of the line voltage and that charges and discharges to provide a ... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7224130 | Method of operating a lamp containing a fixed phase power controller A method of operating a lamp that has a power controller connected between a terminal and a light emitting element that converts the line voltage to an RMS load voltage. An input to an analog control block is provided in the controller that is independent of a chang... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7218054 | Lamp having fixed phase power controller with analog trigger A lamp which includes a fixed phase power controller connected between a terminal and a light emitting element converts line voltage to an RMS load voltage. The controller has an analog control block that receives an input that is independent of a change in magnitud... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7211964 | Lamp including phase-control power controller with digital RMS load voltage regulation A phase-control power controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage includes a phase-control circuit with a potentiometer and a capacitor whose resistance and capacitance determine clipping of a load voltage, a load sensing circuit that senses the l... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7208882 | Lighting device for discharge lamp A lighting device for high-pressure discharge lamp for lighting the high-pressure discharge lamp by lowering or raising a DC voltage applied to an input side by a DC/DC converter circuit, then converting the DC power into an AC power by a DC/AC inverter circuit, sup... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7199532 | Lamp containing phase-control power controller with analog RMS load voltage regulation A lamp includes a phase-control power controller within the lamp. The phase-control power controller includes an analog load voltage sensor that provides an optical output related to an RMS load voltage and a phase-controlled dimming circuit that has a comparison ci... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7196480 | Method of soft-starting a switching power supply containing phase-control clipping circuit A method of operating a power controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage includes a soft start in which a conduction angle of a phase-control clipping circuit is gradually increased to a steady state value that defines the RMS load voltage. The c... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7196478 | Circuit arrangement A driver for driving a gas discharge lamp includes an inductive ballast implemented as auto-transformer having a central tap, connected between one output terminal and a first input terminal, and a triac connected between a second output terminal and a second input ... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7173379 | Incremental distributed driver An incremental distributed driver divides power delivered to multiple lamps into two power delivery stages. The first power delivery stage operates in voltage-mode to provide a partial operating voltage to the lamps. The second power delivery stage operates in curre... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7170236 | Method of setting desired RMS load voltage in a lamp A method of converting a line voltage to a desired RMS load voltage in a lamp includes the steps of pulse width modulating a load voltage with a pulse width modulation circuit, triggering conduction in the pulse width modulation circuit independently of a line volta... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7170231 | Lamp that sets desired RMS load voltage with variable pulse width modulation A lamp includes a voltage controller that converts a line voltage to a desired RMS load voltage. The voltage controller is entirely within a lamp base and uses pulse width modulation to define the RMS load voltage. The voltage controller has a feed-back circuit that... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7166964 | Lamp containing pulse width modulated voltage conversion circuit A lamp includes a voltage conversion circuit entirely within a lamp base. The voltage conversion circuit includes a pulse width modulator for modulating a lamp load voltage and provides a load voltage to a light emitting element. A feed-back circuit adjusts the puls... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7164237 | Circuit arrangement for operating discharge lamps A DC-AC converter in a half bridge configuration is used for operation with high pressure discharge lamps as well as low pressure discharge lamps. The converter consists in two switches (T1-T2) serially connected through a first series of diodes (D1... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7164405 | Method of driving liquid crystal panel and apparatus A method and apparatus of driving a liquid crystal panel to prevent an image distortion and a non-uniform phenomenon in the light transmissivity caused by propagation delay in a scanning wiring of the liquid crystal panel. Data signal voltages are supplied to a sign... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7164235 | Vehicular lamp A vehicular lamp, including: a plurality of semiconductor light emitting devices connected in parallel; a plurality of current limiting units provided corresponding to the plurality of semiconductor light emitting devices, wherein the plurality of current limiting u... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7154251 | Dual controlled output voltage, anti-saturation, auto-transformer circuit methodology An apparatus for selectively stepping up/down the voltage applied from an input to any load in an alternating current power system. The apparatus includes an auto transformer having a series winding with a plurality taps for the selection of different output load vo... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7141933 | Systems and methods for a transformer configuration for driving multiple gas discharge tubes in parallel An apparatus and methods for balancing current in multiple negative impedance gas discharge lamp loads. Embodiments advantageously include balancing transformer configurations that are relatively cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and good performing. Embodiments ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7116062 | Method of soft-starting a switching power supply including pulse width modulation circuit A method of operating a power controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage includes a soft start in which a duty cycle of a pulse width modulation circuit is gradually increased to a steady state value that defines the RMS load voltage. The control... | 10/03/2006 |