...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 |
| 7987696 | Fuel distillation property determining apparatus and method A fuel distillation property determining apparatus for use in a multi-injection system for diesel engines. The apparatus acquires a physical quantity indicating a state of burning of fuel in the diesel engine, determines a physical quantity variation sensitivity def... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7926331 | Detection of fuel property based on change in rotational speed of engine There is disclosed a fuel property detector for detecting a property of fuel injected by a fuel injector into a cylinder of an internal combustion engine. The fuel property detector includes an injection commander, a change detector, and a fuel property determiner. ... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7762127 | Method for determining the composition of a fuel mixture The invention concerns a method for determining the composition of a fuel mixture from a first and at least a second fuel for operating a combustion engine, whereby the fuel mixtures of different compositions require various air/fuel ratios to achieve a stoichiometr... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7487663 | Method for selecting fuel to both optimize the operating range and minimize the exhaust emissions of HCCI engines Operation of a DI HCCI engine is optimized for maximizing load capability and load ranges via matching fuel ignitability with the compression ratio of the engine. ... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7421884 | Method of determining cetane number of fuel in internal combustion engine An object of the present invention is to provide a technology that enables to determine the cetane number of fuel in a state in which it is actually used for running an internal combustion engine with an improved degree of accuracy. A fuel injection for cetane numbe... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7316153 | Method, apparatus, and computer program for measuring the leakage from fuel injection systems for internal combustion engine A method for ascertaining the leakage from injection systems is proposed which is fully automatable and which furnishes unambiguous measurement results, which make a simple decision possible about the tightness of an injection system, in particular of an injector or... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7289900 | Apparatus and method for an automated cetane number determination In an apparatus and method for determining the cetane number of a fuel by combustion of a sample in a constant volume combustion chamber filled with compressed air into which the fuel is injected via a temperature controlled injection nozzle, wherein means are provi... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7266439 | Fuel property-adaptive engine control system with on-board fuel classifier A fuel property adaptive control system for controlling the performance of an engine, such as an internal combustion engine. An on-board fuel classifier classifies the fuel that the engine is running. Based on stored properties for that fuel, the system selects opti... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7246596 | Control system for internal combustion engine A control system for an internal combustion engine that has at least one fuel injection valve for injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of the engine, and burns the injected fuel by compressing an air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. An operating condition... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7224267 | Tire pressure monitoring system A system and method for monitoring tire pressure in a tire of a vehicle is described, in which a tire pressure reading in the tire and an ambient pressure reading are received, and a warning indicator visible to an operator of a vehicle is selectively activated base... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7210455 | Engine control with fuel quality sensor A system is described using a fuel quality sensor for controlling various aspects of engine operation. In particular, an acoustic wave sensor is utilized to measure viscosity and density of gasoline fuels. This measurement is utilized to predict engine combustion qu... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7209826 | Fuel properties estimation for internal combustion engine Fuel properties estimating apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes a controller to determine an estimated component concentration of a component in a fuel. The controller calculates an air-fuel correction quantity in accordance with an actual air fuel r... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7181379 | Variable altitude simulator system for testing engines and vehicles A method and system for controlling both the pressure and temperature at the engine air intake, engine crankcase, and at the engine exhaust so that pressure and temperature conditions are equilibrated. Engines are tested both at simulated high altitudes (operating a... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7152582 | Gasoline type identifying system and method for identifying gasoline type The types of gasolines having different distillation characteristics and various compositions are identified accurately and rapidly. A pulse voltage is applied for a predetermined time to a liquid type identifying sensor heater including a heater and an identifying ... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7117862 | Adaptive engine control An engine system has an engine control module for controlling a ratio of air and fuel supplied to an engine. The engine control module controls the ratio of air and fuel in relation to a fuel parameter related to the specific energy of the fuel or the stoichiometry ... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7050901 | Fuel property determination system A fuel property determination system for an internal combustion engine is arranged to determine a fuel property indicative that fuel in use is heavy or light, on the basis of a degree of change of a revolution speed during a period from an expansion stroke of a firs... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7028532 | Fuel property determination system A fuel property determination system for an internal combustion engine is comprised of a specific gravity detecting section which detects a specific gravity of fuel used in the engine and a fuel property detecting section which detects at least one of a cetane numbe... | 04/18/2006 |
| 6862517 | Method for processing a sensor signal of a knocking sensor for an internal combustion engine Method for processing a sensor signal of a knocking sensor for an internal combustion engine, having the following steps: a time window is defined for the evaluation of the sensor signal as a function of the operating state and/or the operating behavior of the inter... | 03/01/2005 |
| 6745613 | Method and system for determining the type of fuel used to power a vehicle A method for determining the type of fuel used by a vehicle includes receiving hydrocarbon speciation and nitrogen-oxygen compound data from an emissions sensor. The hydrocarbon speciation data is compared to one or more hydrocarbon threshold levels, and each thresh... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6651485 | Method for determining the viscosity of an operating liquid of an internal combustion engine A method of determining the viscosity of an operating liquid, such as engine oil, in an internal combustion engine uses a sensor having a measuring chamber for determining the liquid level and its variation. The measuring chamber is connected via a dampin... | 11/25/2003 |
| 6626033 | Method for operating an accumulator-type catalytic converter of an internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine, especially for a motor vehicle, is described, which is provided with a storage catalytic converter which can be loaded with and unloaded of nitrogen oxides. Several states of deterioration (points 13) of the storage catalyti... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6609413 | Method and apparatus for measuring cetane number of diesel fuel A method of continually measuring the cetane number of a diesel fuel, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a diesel engine having means for selectively supplying at least three diesel fuels to the engine, a first actuator for varying the inje... | 08/26/2003 |
| 6474308 | Apparatus for detecting fuel property for internal combustion engine The following conditions are used as requirements for executing a fuel property detection: an intake air temperature is lower than a restart judging value; a water temperature is in a predetermined range; and it is in an idle operation. In a case that the... | 11/05/2002 |
| 6344118 | Structure of oxygen sensing element An improved structure of an oxygen sensing element installed in an oxygen sensor designed to measure an oxygen content in gases is provided. The structure includes a cup-shaped solid electrolyte body, an inner electrode, and an outer electrode. The solid ... | 02/05/2002 |
| 6321721 | Apparatus for detecting the fuel property for an internal combustion engine The following conditions are used as requirements for executing a fuel property detection: an intake air temperature is lower than a restart judging value; a water temperature is in a predetermined range; and it is in an idle operation. In a case that the... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6318152 | Fuel property judgement device for internal combustion engine To provide a fuel property judgement device for an internal combustion engine, in which, without increasing costs, fuel property is judged earlier and an optimum control suitable for the fuel property is carried out earlier whereby the predicted degradati... | 11/20/2001 |
| 6314944 | Fuel property determination from accumulated intake air amount and accumulated fuel supply amount In a fuel supply control for engines, the amount of fuel supplied to the engine is corrected based on property of fuel which is determined immediately after engine starting. The fuel property is determined based on the amount of fuel injected, but remaini... | 11/13/2001 |
| 6155101 | Method and device for preparing a fuel, particularly for diesel engines, by on-line mixture of its components A C.F.R. engine (26) is alternately supplied with a fuel being manufactured (22), sampled from the discharge line of the mixer and, through a line (24), with a reference product (25) of which the cetane number is known, by two separate supply circuits (22... | 12/05/2000 |
| 6125690 | Device for testing of diesel fuel A device for generating a series of output signals in relation to a rotating output shaft of a diesel fuel test engine generating a series of engine signals, each engine signal occurring at a first angular orientation of the output shaft. Each output sign... | 10/03/2000 |
| 6061637 | Method of determining knock resistance rating for non-commercial grade natural gas A method for calculating knock resistance ratings for various blends of non-commercial grade natural gas involves the use of a computer model derived from collecting experimental data for constituent concentration levels typical in field grade natural gas... | 05/09/2000 |
| 6026778 | Method and device for decoking a combustion chamber of a diesel engine The invention relates to the measuring of the cetane number of fuels supplied to diesel engines. According to the invention, the combustion chamber of a diesel engine for measuring the cetane number of a fuel is decoked by creating, between two measuremen... | 02/22/2000 |
| 6006587 | Method and device for determining the knock rating of motor fuels The invention relates to the oil refining and petrochemical industry and concerns, in particular, techniques for determining the knock rating of motor fuels. The proposed method of determining the knock rating of motor fuels involves thermostatic control ... | 12/28/1999 |
| 5962775 | Method for testing unleaded aviation gasolines A method for testing an unleaded aviation gasoline (Avgas) composition involves (a) running an aviation engine such as a Textron Lycoming IO-360 engine with an Avgas at maximum knocking conditions, (b) collecting pressure trace data of continuous engine c... | 10/05/1999 |
| 5906190 | Air-assisted fuel injection system for ignition quality determination An ignition quality tester includes an unit for repeatedly injecting a precise quantity of fuel under controlled conditions into a combustion chamber where monitored combustion can be carried out. The tester can be used in an in-line feedback arrangement ... | 05/25/1999 |
| 5817923 | Apparatus for detecting the fuel property for an internal combustion engine and method thereof A period of from when the starter switch is turned on or from the start of the fuel injection until when the engine rotation speed has reached a predetermined rotation speed, is detected as a parameter representing the starting performance. After the engi... | 10/06/1998 |
| 5633798 | Method and apparatus for measuring octane number An apparatus and method to automate octane number measurements from a knock engine is provided. A first and second reference fuel having different knock octane numbers and a test fuel having an unknown octane number are each provided to the fuel inlet of ... | 05/27/1997 |
| 5586537 | Fuel property detecting apparatus for internal combustion engines Provided is an apparatus for early detecting a volatility of fuel supplied to an engine after engine start, in order to more precisely provide various increasing corrections during air-fuel-ratio control. During increasing-correction (S4) after engine sta... | 12/24/1996 |
| 5537978 | Apparatus and method for determining characteristic of fuel supplied to vehicular internal combustion engine An apparatus and method for determining a characteristic of a fuel actually used in a vehicular internal combustion engine. The characteristic of the fuel actually used in the engine is determined on the basis of a fuel supply quantity (ΣTi) to the engin... | 07/23/1996 |
| 5457985 | Process for measuring the cetane number of supply fuels for diesel engines and apparatus for performing this process An apparatus and method for testing and monitoring fuels produced for diesel engines. The cetane number of a supply fuel for a diesel engine is measured based on the value of the cetane number of two reference fuels. The autoignition delay is measured and... | 10/17/1995 |
| 4945876 | System and method for detecting knocking in an internal combustion engine A system and method for detecting an engine knocking for an internal combustion engine are disclosed in which an amplification factor of a voltage amplifier for amplifying a knock detection signal derived from a corresponding pressure-responsive sensor is... | 08/07/1990 |