Did You Know...
...that in 1800 ether was first used by partyers as a fun diversion? Sniffing the gas led to hilarious and raucous laughter as people watched each other become more and more intoxicated and silly. Several doctors independently realized the value ether would have to anesthetize surgery patients. Of those who claimed rights to the "discovery," none had a happy ending. One had a seizure and died defending his rights. Another spent his life in an asylum because he had been denied acclaim. A third became addicted to chloroform and, in a New York City jail, he soaked a cloth in the drug, severed an artery and bled to death.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7848826 | Method for enabling the operation of automation components of a technical system via a mobile control and monitoring device There is described a method for enabling the operation of automation components of a technical system via a mobile control and monitoring device. In a first step, the control and monitoring device receives a first identification from a first transponder device, with... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7437765 | Sensitive display system A sensitive display system is described. The sensitive display system allows for mediation of content provided from a source to a recipient, such as from a web server to a web browser. Mediation may involve intercepting and augmenting the content so as to restrict o... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7346400 | Position-based on/off switch scope An optical scope with a position-based on/off switch preserves power by automatically deactivating one or more electrical components when the scope is not in use. The scope includes an orientation sensor that determines when the scope is in an inactive position by s... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7337256 | Distributed control system with multiple control levels and/or downloading A field controller for use in a distributed control system including an area controller and at least one field controller. The field controller manages at least one controlled device in an industrial process operation. The field controller comprises a processor modu... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7314343 | Miniature manipulator for servicing the interior of nuclear steam generator tubes A manipulator for servicing tubes extending through a tube sheet having three major components: a base member, a block member, and a foot member. The base member has a holder for supporting tooling or inspection devices. The base member also has at least one gripper... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7310566 | Quality control method for two-dimensional matrix codes on metallic workpieces, using an image processing device A quality control method for two-dimensional matrix codes on metallic workpieces, the codes being in the form of stamped marking dots is disclosed. The stamping process for the marking dots is carried out by a marking tool (17) with the aid of predetermined d... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7302301 | Method for monitoring an automation system A method and a system for monitoring and determining preceding states of at least one terminal of an automation system are provided. The automation system includes one or more terminals (1, 2), each of which can assume two or more states and each of which out... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7290126 | One-chip microcomputer with multiple timers The present invention provides a one-chip microcomputer that can realize the control of cooling equipment, the control of the brightness of a display device, and the control of the charge and discharge of a battery without mounting an analog circuit. The one-chip mi... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7290278 | Identity based service system An identity based service system is provided, in which an identity is created and managed for a user or principal, such that at least a portion of the identity is available to use between one or more system entities. A discovery service enables a system entity to di... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7286895 | Safety device and method for determining an overtravel in a machine A safety device for a machine has a first machine part for carrying out a working movement towards a second machine part. It also has at least a first and a second optical barrier moving along with the first machine part during the working movement. The first optica... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7283886 | Practical measurement system for a manufacturing process A complete Direct Digital Numerical Control (DDNC) automation system for a practical measurement system for a manufacturing process where a given slide or ram is moved under power by input of GO-TO location commands to cause a cascade of motion events to an approxim... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7272456 | Position based machine control in an industrial automation environment A method and apparatus for controlling machine operations in an automated industrial facility including at least one machine, the method for restricting machine operation when a wireless information device associated with a facility user is within a restricted facil... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7253571 | Wireless power supply and method of supplying power A wireless power supply and method of wirelessly supplying power use light to directly supply power wirelessly to an electrical apparatus without a power cable. The wireless power supply includes: a plurality of pressure switches adapted to switch ON/OFF in response... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7250740 | Method and apparatus for generating pulse-width modulated waveform In a method of generating pulse-width modulated waveform, the cycle of a carrier wave for the waveform is determined together with a first dead time value and a second dead time value both of which are set in a plurality of up-down counters, respectively. Using the ... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7239991 | Manufacturing design and process analysis and simulation system A process simulation system that simulates the operation of the manufacturing and measurement systems used to produce and measure the articles being analyzed relative to engineering design targets, engineering design tolerances, producibility and/or quality. In one ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7236611 | Gesture activated home appliance Apparatus for operating home appliances using gesture recognition are disclosed. An image receiver receives a continuous stream of images of a gesture made within the image receiver's field of view. An image processor is connected to the image receiver for sampling ... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7237024 | Cross-site timed out authentication management A solution is provided to monitor Web browsing activity across an Internet based network of affiliated Web sites and to enable the Web sites to detect and to force re-authentication upon users who have had a period of network-wide inactivity longer than a site-speci... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7221984 | Method and system of programming at least one appliance to change state upon the occurrence of a trigger event An automation system for programming appliances having programmable controllers, programmable devices and trigger devices that communicate over a communication link. The user programs the programmable devices by placing the programmable controller in its training mo... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7209862 | Self-diagnosing system for encoder A self-diagnosing system for an encoder. The system includes an encoder circuit for outputting information detected by an encoder; a data preparing section provided in the encoder circuit and preparing data representing a state of an abnormal-state judgment factor i... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7180209 | Multiple function electronic drive An electronic drive system using a plurality of drive circuits for enabling greater plurality of functions by selectively placing drive signals on the driver outputs at one of two possible polarities. At least one of the enabled functions taking a substantially shor... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7173390 | Method of detecting a malfunction during a displacement of an element by means of a drive system, and device suitable for carrying out such a method A method and a device are provided for detecting the occurrence of a malfunction upon movement of an element by a driving system. While the element is being moved, a difference between a predetermined value and an actual value is determined at regular intervals by m... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7152789 | Commodity information provision method and apparatus A commodity information provision method for detecting a customer in a store who is in trouble and for providing such a customer with information about an appropriate commodity. A position detection device which the customer carries when shopping transmits position ... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7155603 | Circuit arrangement for detecting the state of at least one electrical switch Circuit arrangement for detecting the state of at least one electrical switch having at least one set input (Set1, Set2, Set3) in each case and at least one sensor output (Sensor1, Sensor2, Sensor3) in each case, each of whi... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7146265 | Control device with time measuring function A control device with a time measuring function measures a turned-off time of an ignition switch with a low consumption current and high accuracy at a level adapted for a demand from the controlling side, as well as a turned-on time of the ignition switch. The contr... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7120266 | Pendent audio player The present invention provides an audio player wearable around the neck which comprises vertical direction recognition sensor 2 for recognizing hanging state wherein a casing 10 is hung from the neck using a neck strap 11 and holding state where... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7117384 | Timing method and apparatus for digital logic circuits A differentiated granularity timing apparatus and a method to provide various flexible timing granularities without requiring much memory space and complex circuit design are disclosed. The differentiated granularity timing apparatus of the present invention compris... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7116099 | Angular position sensor and rotation control device An angular position sensor has a sensor element detects changes of magnetic field strength of a magnet that rotates in synchronization with a rotating body, for detecting its angular position. A circuit is provided for compensating hysteresis characteristics of an o... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7089086 | Method, system and storage medium for performing online valve diagnostics Methods and systems for performing online valve diagnostics. Valve characteristics such as step response, friction and spring range are determined while the valve is operating in a process without intervention by a controller deriving the valve diagnostics. Valve in... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7072734 | Method and apparatus for controlling a machine tool When a command radius r of a circular interpolation control exceeds a threshold value, a computer computes a speed limit for the circular speed at which the acceleration becomes constant. When the command radius r of the circular interpolation control is less than o... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7069613 | Method and apparatus for aligning an aircraft with a passenger loading bridge Disclosed is a method and system for aligning a door of an aircraft to a passenger loading bridge. A final parking position of the aircraft is defined as being immediately adjacent to a position of the passenger loading bridge, such that when the aircraft is stopped... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7049778 | Inverter control apparatus and inverter control method An interrupt signal is generated at each of rising timings of PWM signals which are produced on the basis of phase-shifted triangular wave carrier signals for phases, and voltage command values for the phases. At timings of the interrupt signals, A/D conversion of m... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7049771 | Multi-phase carrier signal generator and multi-phase carrier signal generation method A carrier signal generation section is provided for each of U, V, and W phases, and each of the carrier signal generation sections has an up-down counter for counting clock signals output from a clock generator. An initial value is set for each of the up-down counte... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7035694 | Automatic tuning of motion controllers using search techniques System and method for user configuration of an autotuning algorithm for a controller in a motion control system. A desired trajectory in one or more dimensions for the motion control system is received. Values of one or more gains for a controller are initialized. A... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7019647 | Telesurveillance installation and operating process thereof An installation includes at least one magnetic field source, measuring equipment fixed onto a freely movable object whose motion is to be detected, and control equipment. The measuring equipment includes a magnetometer able to measure the magnetic field it is surrou... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7010360 | Automatic conversion of dates and times for messaging A system and method are disclosed for automatically converting dates and times in electronic text messages to the local dates and times of the message recipients. For example, when a text message is sent to an intended recipient, a messaging server can recognize dat... | 03/07/2006 |
| 7006876 | Safety cabinet with simplified operability The invention pertains to a safety cabinet with an interior that is enclosed by a housing and a housing front side with a work opening that can be closed with a height-adjustable window. The safety cabinet contains an operating unit for controlling device functions ... | 02/28/2006 |
| 6999823 | Power shut-off method for injection molding machine Even when a power switch is turned off, the controller of an injection molding machine does not shut off a power supply immediately. The controller determines whether the present state of the injection molding machine is a previously-set confirmation-requiring state... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6973353 | Programmable controller for controlling an output state A programmable controller for controlling one or more outputs based on position indicated from a position transducer. The controller includes an interface that converts the transducer signals into a change in position, a transducer position counter that accumulates ... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6973629 | Circuit arrangement Fuses that selectively disable functional blocks of a circuit are arranged in a multistage structure, wherein if any fuse element in the multistage structure permanently switches off a part of the circuit, no other fuse element in the multistage structure can affect... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6968241 | Device and method for controlling the position for working devices of mobile machines The invention relates to a device for controlling the position for work devices (41) of mobile machines (40). The inventive device comprises a measuring device (1,2) for measuring an angle (α) which is formed between a level (42) that is... | 11/22/2005 |
