Did You Know...
...that Robert Adler has the dubious distinction of being the Father of the Couch Potato? Back in 1955 Adler was employed by what was then Zenith Radio Corp., where he was charged to invent something that would allow viewers to turn down the TV volume without leaving their chairs. After a series of flops (such as a wired contraption that people tripped over), Adler hit on the idea of using sound waves. Thus the Remote Control was born...
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8099256 | Method of determining the dimensions of a mailpiece A method of determining the dimensions of a mailpiece by means of a portable measuring device having a housing provided with an opening having a side reference surface along which the mailpiece is guided under a position sensor in a first pass along a first dimensio... | 01/17/2012 |
| 7797127 | Method for determining two pseudo-sinusoidal signals in quadrature A method for determining two pseudo-sinusoidal signals in quadrature from a pseudo-sinusoidal signal transmitted by an encoder is provided. The method using a sensor arranged within reading distance of the encoder, which sensor includes at least four sensing element... | 09/14/2010 |
| 7418361 | Method of correcting speed of encoder and apparatus therefor A method of correcting the speed of an encoder and an apparatus therefor are provided. The method includes the steps of detecting an electrical signal corresponding to a driving speed of a motor, calculating driving speed values of the motor in sections of the elect... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7389200 | Incremental encoding and decoding apparatus and method An incremental encoding and decoding apparatus and method are provided. The incremental encoding and decoding apparatus comprises current converters, which respectively receive the pair of analog signals and convert the received analog signals into current signals e... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7354000 | Method and system for sensing a barcode A method and system used in the barcode sensing process are disclosed, in which at least two instances of an optical signal are obtained from the same barcode in different time periods, and digitized by a first digitizer with a first threshold. The digitized results... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7349821 | Bi-directional signal converter A device and method for conversion of bi-directional signals using controlled dual value up/down counters uses a plurality of cascaded up/down counters chained together to alter the ratio of a maximum coefficient of N to N+1 for the first counter in the cascade of c... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7321113 | Precision material-handling robot employing high-resolution, compact absolute encoder An absolute encoder employs multiple sub-encoders of different resolutions and a linking algorithm for combining the sub-encoder outputs to form an accurate, high-resolution position estimate. The sub-encoders can utilize edge modulation of a main grating track, slo... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7289932 | Angular position, speed and direction encoding of a rotating member A spatial detection apparatus comprising a rotating member having a predetermined number of teeth angularly spaced about its circumference at predetermined distances to form a bit pattern; at least one sensor capable of detecting a rising edge and a falling edge of ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7279863 | Method and apparatus for detecting excitation position of SRM by comparison of detected current Disclosed is a method and apparatus for detecting an excitation position of an SRM by comparison of detected currents. The method includes detecting a current by applying a first test voltage to each phase of the SRM, detecting a current by applying a second test vo... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7266567 | Absolute encoder and absolute value signal generation method An absolute encoder comprising a first memory operable to store a first absolute value signal produced every constant time period, the absolute value signal representing an absolute value position. A second memory stores a second absolute value signal produced in a ... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7253395 | Absolute encoder employing concatenated, multi-bit, interpolated sub-encoders An absolute encoder employs multiple sub-encoders of different resolutions and a linking algorithm for combining the sub-encoder outputs to form an accurate, high-resolution position estimate. The sub-encoders can utilize edge modulation of a main grating track, slo... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7242307 | System for monitoring hygiene appliances A hygiene appliance monitoring system for determining washroom element functional status and sequence of operation generally includes a plurality of wireless communication devices with a first number of the wireless communication devices being disposed within or adj... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7219036 | Method for balancing an article for rotation A method for statistically analyzing the operation of a machine for balancing articles for rotation so as to reduce measurement errors and thereby enhance productivity and quality including the steps of collecting raw data during production balancing of articles for... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7183537 | Rotary position sensor with offset beam generating element and elliptical detector array A rotary position sensor employs an offset beam forming optical element such as a tilted mirror or a diffraction grating. The axis of the light beam from a source can be parallel to the rotational axis or tilted at a predetermined angle. One or multiple spots of lig... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7143518 | Angle detector with self-calibration capability An angle detector with self-calibration capability has a number of first scale read heads and one second scale read head around the periphery of a single scale disk and includes means for performing self-calibration by determining measurement differences between the... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7135080 | Method for winding strips on the building machine A strip member is wound by a tire building machine having a building drum for taking up a strip member of predetermined length without discrete ends and a transfer conveyor for feeding the strip member to the building drum. The winding-start end of the strip member ... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7106054 | Device for sensing a rotary member such as a water meter turbine A device for sensing the rotation of a member rotating about an axis XX′ comprises m proximity sensors situated in a plane perpendicular to the axis XX′ and in m radial directions, m being an integer greater than or equal to 2. A mark fastened to the rotary memb... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7089100 | Bicycle information processing apparatus with memory protection A bicycle information processing apparatus comprises a memory for storing information related to the bicycle; an information processing unit that accesses the memory and processes information stored in the memory; and a power supply sensor that detects an ability of... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7080826 | Winch for a construction machine The invention relates to a winch for a construction machine having a cable drum for receiving a cable and a winch support on which the cable drum is mounted in rotary manner about a rotation axis. The cable drum is swivellably mounted about a swivel axis with respec... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7068191 | Method for determining the numerical value for the duration of a periodically repeated pulse signal, and device for carrying out said method The invention concerns a method for determining a numerical value for the duration of a periodically repeating pulsed signal. This method comprises the following steps: a) at time intervals, the period length of the signal is determined; b) at time intervals, a char... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7047153 | Method and apparatus for improved inspection classification of attributes of a workpiece An apparatus for detecting the probable existence, location, and type of defects in a workpiece is described. The apparatus includes a sensor subsystem, an optimizer, a control subsystem, and a computer system having a processor and computer readable memory. Sensor ... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7023201 | Magnetic position sensor apparatus and method A magnetic position sensor has a stator (16′, 36, 52) formed of magnetic material and a pair of magnets (14a, 14b; 34a, 34b; 54a, 54b; 64a, 64b) ... | 04/04/2006 |
| 7009360 | Method for controlling SRM switching angle by analog encoder system Disclosed is a method for controlling an SRM (Switched Reluctance Motor) switching angle by an analog encoder system that can perform a precise control of the switching angle of the SRM by comparing an analog sensor signal detected by the analog encoder system with ... | 03/07/2006 |
| 7002925 | Method and system for computer network link with undefined termination condition The location of a termination in a properly terminated LAN can be remotely detected. The cable's skin effect produces a detectable signature at the sending-end when a step function, for example, reaches the termination. Accordingly, a network analysis device is conn... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6960974 | Magnetoresistive smart switch A smart switch has a magnetic operator, at least one magnetic sensor located to sense movement of the magnetic operator, and a processor that processes an output of the magnetic sensor so as to detect right and left over travel ranges and a normal operating range of... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6940275 | Magnetic position sensor apparatus and method A magnetic position sensor has a stator (16′, 36, 52) formed of magnetic material and a pair of magnets (14a, 14b; 34a, 34b; 54a, 54b; 64a, 64b) ... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6931312 | Detection apparatus for steering angle in vehicle Disclosed is an apparatus for detecting steering angle in vehicle, such that the size of the apparatus for detecting steering angle in vehicle using gears and magneto resistive sensors, could be reduced. An apparatus for detecting steering angle in vehicle including... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6931359 | Human interface method and apparatus A method and apparatus for measuring one or more physical conditions of a computer operator and for automatically inputting signals corresponding to the physical conditions into a computer (12) for control and monitoring purposes. ... | 08/16/2005 |
| 6928386 | High-resolution optical encoder with phased-array photodetectors Embodiments of high-resolution optical encoders having phased-array photodetectors and integrated on semiconductor chips. Emitters, detectors, and encoders disks are described which can be easily produced with semiconductor processes, such as a detector array provid... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6917895 | Method for determination of roll density A method for determining roll density in connection with a web reel. A known relation between the length (l), diameter (D), basis weight (b) and density (ρ) of the wound roll, formula (1) is used. Distortions caused in the measurement results by noise and other dis... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6895296 | Spindle system, apparatus, and methods for applying spindle apparatus A system, apparatus and method is shown for collecting data on rolled product usage at a dispensing location by monitoring the amount of product pulled or removed from a roll. In the invention, a spindle assembly may be configured to support a product roll. The spin... | 05/17/2005 |
| 6853948 | Using conductive nipped rollers to measure media length Representative embodiments provide for an imaging apparatus including a controller, a first imaging engine and a second imaging engine, each coupled with the controller and configured to form images on sheet media, and a nip assembly configured to pass a sheet media... | 02/08/2005 |
| 6807512 | Node identification by displacement A method of identifying a node of an arrangement that includes a plurality of movable parts, the method including moving only one of a plurality of movable parts of an arrangement, detecting the moving of the one of the plurality of movable parts and distinguishing ... | 10/19/2004 |
| 6778939 | Rotational angle detector which prevents controlled system from being improperly controlled A rotational angle detector which comprises: a rotational angle detecting section which detects an angle detection signal correspondent to a rotational state of a rotor in a short cycle and feeds it to a control section; the control section which calculates the fed ... | 08/17/2004 |
| 6687647 | Rotation-angle detecting device capable of precisely detecting absolute angle The absolute angle of the rotation angle is detected on the basis of a first detection signal including sawtooth continuous pulses and a second detection signal that rises stepwise. The second detection signal includes a plurality of flat portions and a p... | 02/03/2004 |
| 6611790 | Measuring device for the contactless measurement of an angle of rotation A measuring instrument for contactless detection of an angle of rotation γ is comprised of a supporting plate (14) made of soft magnetic material, which serves as a rotor. Two segments (16, 17) that are separated by a slot (21) and a spacing gap (22) are... | 08/26/2003 |
| 6580066 | Measurement signal generating circuit for linear scale A measurement signal generating circuit for a linear scale capable of increasing an Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio, wherein S stands for Corona signal strength, and N for noise strength ratio of a signal for measurement of a linear scale. A photo detector or... | 06/17/2003 |
| 6577985 | Scalable code absolute logic function (SCALF) encoder An inventive encoding system that expects, accepts and interprets both normal and abnormal states of a sensor array, and that preferably further recognizes a zero state as a malfunction. The system is "absolute," in that it allows detection of the best fi... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6567033 | Analog angular coder An analog angle encoder is provided having a resistor track and a wiper contact associated with the resistor track, a conductor track concentric with the resistor track, wherein one end of the resistor track is connected to ground and the other end is con... | 05/20/2003 |
| 6564168 | High-resolution optical encoder with phased-array photodetectors Embodiments of high-resolution optical encoders having phased-array photodetectors and integrated on semiconductor chips. Emitters, detectors, and encoders disks are described which can be easily produced with semiconductor processes, such as a detector a... | 05/13/2003 |
