Did You Know...
...that when IBM conducted a market study of Chester Carlson's invention in 1959, the company concluded that it would take only 5000 units of his new product to saturate the market? IBM therefore declined to be part of the new product introduction. Too bad for IBM. Carlson's invention was the xerography process, and his new product was the beginning of the Xerox Corporation. It is estimated that every day, worldwide, 3,000,000,000 copies are made!!
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US Patent 5757876 - Object counter and identification system
US Patent Issued on May 26, 1998
Estimated Patent Expiration Date:
February 7, 2017Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
Estimated Patent Expiration Date:
February 7, 2017Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.AbstractA system for counting the number of objects of known thickness in a stack and identifying the objects by their color in which an ultrasonic sensor is mounted at a known distance from a reference point that defines the beginning of the stack. The ultrasonic sensor is operated to measure the round trip transit time of ultrasonic energy reflected back from the closest object in the stack and the number of objects in the stack is calculated on the basis of the known distance and the round trip transit time. A color sensor senses the color of at least one object in the stack to identify the object. In a casino application where the objects are chips of known monetary value, the value of the chips in the stack can be calculated. | InventorsAssigneeApplicationNo. 795143 filed on 02/07/1997US Classes:377/7, Coins377/14, Where the different categories represent monetary amounts (e.g., wages, charges)377/24DimensionField of Search377/6, Counting animate or inanimate entities377/7, Coins377/13, Registering counts for different categories (e.g., accounting)377/14, Where the different categories represent monetary amounts (e.g., wages, charges)377/24DimensionExaminersPrimary: Wambach, Margaret RoseAttorney, Agent or FirmUS Patent References4026309, Chip structureIssued on: 05/31/1977 Inventor: Howard4755941System for monitoring the movement of money and chips on a gaming table Issued on: 07/05/1988 Inventor: Bacchi International ClassG03M 007/00 |
