William F. Semple, a dentist, was awarded the first US Patent on chewing gum in 1869. His recipe contained powdered chalk.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7862232 | Temperature sensor, device and system including same, and method of operation A temperature sensor and device and system including same, comprise a switched capacitor circuit configured to generate a noise voltage in response to switching and circuitry configured to generate a relative temperature output signal proportional to an absolute tem... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7321846 | Two-wire process control loop diagnostics A diagnostic device for coupling to a process control loop includes digital communication circuitry configured to receive a digital communication signal from the process control loop. The digital communication signal is a digitally modulated analog signal on the pro... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7298151 | Methods and apparatus for reducing thermal noise Methods and apparatus for reducing the thermal noise integrated on a storage element are disclosed. One embodiment of the invention is directed to a sampling circuit comprising a sampling capacitor to store a charge, the sampling capacitor being exposed to an ambien... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7290450 | Process diagnostics A diagnostic device for use in a industrial process includes monitoring electronics or diagnostic circuitry configured to diagnose or identify a condition or other occurrence in the industrial process. The system can be implemented in a process device such as a flow... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7275865 | Temperature measuring apparatus using change of magnetic field A temperature measuring apparatus measures the temperature of a wafer in real time using a change of magnetic field during a thermal process. The temperature measuring apparatus includes: at least one conductive structure disposed on one surface of the wafer, in whi... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7272531 | Aggregation of asset use indices within a process plant A method of monitoring an entity within a process plant wherein the entity includes a plurality of lower level entities, includes acquiring a plurality of use indices, acquiring a plurality of weighting values, and creating an aggregate use index from a combination ... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7255476 | On chip temperature measuring and monitoring circuit and method A device temperature measurement circuit, an integrated circuit (IC) including a device temperature measurement circuit, a method of characterizing device temperature and a method of monitoring temperature. The circuit includes a constant current source and a clampi... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7254518 | Pressure transmitter with diagnostics In one embodiment, a pressure transmitter is provided which diagnoses the condition of a primary element and/or an impulse line which connects to a pressure sensor. A difference circuit coupled to the pressure sensor has a difference output which represents the sens... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7228508 | Fail-safe thermal sensor apparatus and method A fail-safe thermal sensor is implemented in an integrated circuit such as a microprocessor. The fail-safe thermal sensor monitors the temperature of the integrated circuit and halt logic halts operation of the integrated circuit in response to the fail-safe thermal... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7221988 | Creation and display of indices within a process plant A process control system uses an asset utilization expert to collect data or information pertaining to the assets of a process plant from various sources or functional areas of the plant including, for example, the process control functional areas, the maintenance f... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7206646 | Method and apparatus for performing a function in a plant using process performance monitoring with process equipment monitoring and control A process control system uses a data collection and distribution system and an asset utilization suite to collect data or information pertaining to the assets of a process plant from various sources or functional areas of the plant including, for example, the proces... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7196450 | Electromechanical assemblies using molecular-scale electrically conductive and mechanically flexible beams and methods for application of same Electromechanical systems utilizing suspended conducting nanometer-scale beams are provided and may be used in applications, such as, motors, generators, pumps, fans, compressors, propulsion systems, transmitters, receivers, heat engines, heat pumps, magnetic field ... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7140766 | Device, system and method for temperature sensing in an in-vivo device A device, method and system for sensing the temperature or temperature change of an environment. A typically in-vivo device includes an image sensor. The device may sense the dark current noise of the image sensor, and calculate the temperature or a temperature chan... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7102672 | Integrated CMOS imaging array dark current monitor A method, apparatus, and system for accounting for dark current in the output of an imaging array is presented. A dark current monitor on the monolithic semiconductor imaging array is provided. The dark current monitor may be darkened pixels of the imaging array, da... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7084647 | Transmitter A transmitter having an improved current output is provided, having: a sensor (1), which serves to register a physical quantity (X) and to convert such to an electrical quantity; electronics, which converts the electrical quantity into a measurement signal an... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7085610 | Root cause diagnostics An industrial process diagnostic apparatus is provided which can identify a source, or “root cause”, of an aberration in an industrial process. A plurality of process configuration models are provided which each represent a physical (or actual) implementation of... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7046180 | Analog-to-digital converter with range error detection A circuit includes a multiplexer, an analog-to-digital converter, and a processor that compares a sequence of digital outputs from the analog-to-digital converter to a sequence of normal ranges that correspond with the digital outputs in order to provide an error ou... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7018800 | Process device with quiescent current diagnostics A process device for use on an industrial process control system includes a quiescent current sensor configured to sense quiescent current draw of the process device. Diagnostic circuitry determines a diagnostic condition of the process device as a function of the s... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7010459 | Process device diagnostics using process variable sensor signal A diagnostic device for use in a process control system receives a sensor signal related to a process variable of a process sensed by a process variable sensor. A signal preprocessor provides a sensor power signal output as a function of a frequency distribution of ... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6974973 | Apparatus for determining temperature of an active pixel imager and correcting temperature induced variations in an imager An imager temperature sensor and a current correction apparatus are provided which use dark pixel measurements from an imager chip during operation together with a fabrication process constant as well as a chip dependent constant to calculate chip temperature. The c... | 12/13/2005 |
| 6975047 | Temperature-based cooling device controller apparatus and method A temperature-based cooling device controller is implemented in an integrated circuit such as a microprocessor. The temperature-based cooling device controller includes a register to store a threshold temperature value, a thermal sensor, and clock adjustment logic t... | 12/13/2005 |
| 6970003 | Electronics board life prediction of microprocessor-based transmitters A field device includes circuitry to successively measure a parameter related to current drawn by electronics of the field device. The measurements are provided to a prediction engine which calculates a diagnostic output based upon the plurality of current-related m... | 11/29/2005 |
| 6964514 | Temperature measuring apparatus An improved apparatus for measuring the temperature of an object such as a food object. Also, a related method, container, transportation member and production line which utilizes this apparatus. The apparatus includes a coupling device for coupling radiation emanat... | 11/15/2005 |
| 6920799 | Magnetic flow meter with reference electrode An magnetic flow meter is provided which includes a reference electrode configured to electrically couple process fluid flowing within a flowtube of the flow meter. The reference electrode is adapted to measure potential of the process fluid. A current limiter is co... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6909271 | Devices, systems, and methods for measuring differential temperature At least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a method comprising providing an input signal from a first differential temperature sensor to a first primary coil of a transformer, and detecting a transient signal from a secondary coil of the tra... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6907383 | Flow diagnostic system A flow diagnostic system for a flow sensing element and impulse lines. A pressure transmitter coupled to the impulse lines provides digital pressure data to a control system. The control system provides the pressure data and real time clock readings to a diagnostic ... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6607301 | Device and method for dark current noise temperature sensing in an imaging device A device, method and system for sensing the temperature of an environment. An image sensor may be introduced into an environment having an image sensing module. The dark current noise of the image sensor may be sensed, and the temperature of the image sen... | 08/19/2003 |
| 6554470 | M-level diode junction temperature measurement method cancelling series and parallel parasitic influences The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus to measure p-n junction device temperature by testing a device with M-Levels of applied collector current, sensing changes in output characteristics, and calculating the device current offset... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6453218 | Integrated RAM thermal sensor A method and apparatus for the thermal sensing and regulating of a RAM device using temperature sensing circuitry, embedded directly in the device, is presented. A predetermined voltage is passed through a temperature sensitive diode to create an analog s... | 09/17/2002 |
| 6439763 | Variable microwave cold/warm noise source A radiometer calibrating system utilizes an adjustable noise source for calibrating a radiometer. The noise source includes a transistor configured as a noise equivalent circuit having a gate port, drain port and source port. A source inductance providing... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6357912 | Current sensing noise thermometer A current sensing noise thermometer is described, in which a low noise amplifier is used to measure the noise current in a sensor resistor and the sensor resistor is connected in series with a superconducting coil, or a coil assembly including at least on... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6217210 | Variable microwave cold/warm noise source A radiometer calibrating system utilizes an adjustable noise source for calibrating a radiometer. The noise source includes a transistor configured as a noise equivalent circuit having a gate port, drain port and source port. A source inductance providing... | 04/17/2001 |
| 5909963 | Method for determining a temperature of a body by measuring emitted thermal noise A method for determining a temperature of a body by measuring emitted thermal noise includes measurement of thermal noise with a double radiofrequency signal amplification chain, one of whose branches continuously measures a thermal noise signal generated... | 06/08/1999 |
| 5741071 | Radiometer for the determination of a temperature of a body by measuring emitted thermal noise Radiometer for the determination of a temperature of a body by measuring emitted thermal noise and measurement process using this radiometer. The radiometer includes a double radiofrequency signal amplification chain (1) for thermal noises, one of whose b... | 04/21/1998 |
| 5354130 | Method and apparatus for measuring the temperature of an electrically conductive material The invention concerns a method and an apparatus for measuring the temperature of an electrically conductive material, said method being based on the measurement of the thermal noise of the material. In the method, the fluctuation of the magnetic field ge... | 10/11/1994 |
| 5228780 | Dual-mode self-validating resistance/Johnson noise thermometer system A dual-mode Johnson noise and DC resistance thermometer capable of use in control systems where prompt indications of temperature changes and long term accuracy are needed. A resistance-inductance-capacitance (RLC) tuned circuit produces a continuous volt... | 07/20/1993 |
| 5146780 | Vacuum-isolation vessel and method for measurement of thermal noise in microphones A vacuum-isolation vessel for measurement of thermal noise in microphones s an outer vessel and an inner vessel suspended within the outer vessel. A high vacuum is created between the inner and outer vessels to provide acoustical isolation. The suspension... | 09/15/1992 |
| 4911009 | Thermal air flow meter A thermal air flow meter for measuring the flow rate of intake air supplied to an internal combustion engine comprises a thermal sensor disposed in an intake air passage, a drive circuit including a circuit pattern formed on a circuit board for driving th... | 03/27/1990 |
| 4875042 | Multi channel temperature controller utilizing electronic multiplexer This multi channel temperature controller includes several temperature sensors, an electronic multiplexer which receives output signals from these temperature sensors and which sequentially supplies these signals to its output according to the switching a... | 10/17/1989 |
| 4763665 | Shielded thermistor for microwave environment A thermistor assembly for use in an environment of microwave radiation employs an interface metallic layer on the surface of a plastic insulation its conductors and a metal foil wrapped upon the thermistor head. The metal foil overlaps the interface metal... | 08/16/1988 |