Ntc Technology, Inc.

Cascadia Technology Corporation

Other

Trimed, Inc.

Icebox, Inc.

Iota, Inc.

Pryon Incorporated

Practical Pet Solutions, LLC

Coach Master Int'l Corp.

Daniel Ward Knodle

Lawrence L Labuda

Gary M Bang

Robert G Harrison

Leslie E Mace

James T Russell

Robin Lynn Callender

Jerry R Apperson

Jedediah Joaquin McCann

Paul K Graham

James Pacyga

Russel M Stromberg

Thomas R Clary

Walter A Cooke

William E Crone

Robert Rogers

Kirk Westfall

Kenneth A Brown

Philip F Nuzzo

A stowable platform for motor vehicles which extends beyond the vehicle when in use but is stowed beneath the vehicle. The platform is pivotably secured to an elongated arm which is in turn pivotably secured to the vehicle and is positively locked in both positions.

Stable platform for motor vehicles

A mobile communications resource manager including a smart card configured to accept and store a user's personal information suitable for use in commercial transactions (physical tap or electronically) and communications operations, a cellular radio modem, at least one non-cellular radio modem and a controller. The controller is configured for establishing a short-range wireless connection via said non-cellular modem to at least one user accessible electronic device with human interface functionality and accepting a service request from the at least one user accessible electronic device and making a modem selection by selecting either a cellular or a non-cellular connection via a modem resident in the mobile communications resource manager to provide the communications link for the service request, based on a rule resident in the mobile communications resource manager.

Mobile communications resource management system

Vehicle-mountable steps with platforms which have stowed and operational (deployed) positions. A latch mechanism positively locks the platform in the selected position. The step is designed for vehicles equipped with a ball-and-receiver type of trailer hitch and is coupled to the receiver of the hitch. The step is easily removed when the hitch is needed for towing but can otherwise be left on the vehicle as the platform of the step is located out-of-the-way beneath the vehicle when the platform is located in its stowed position.

Stowable steps

Methods for upgrading the operating system of an appliance and/an one or more applications run by the appliance. The method can be used to reload existing software, to add an operating mode to the appliance, and/or to enable an existent but previously disabled operating mode of the appliance. Also disclosed are methods for making a laser readable disk which is used in the upgrading process and which also can be encoded with an operating system and/or application software.

Operating system upgrading

Appliances designed to be mounted on the bottom of a structure such as an overhead cabinet system. The appliance has an integrated unit (or module) which includes a television tuner and, optionally, a player for an optically readable disk. The appliance also has a display unit of the flat screen type. The display unit is attached to the appliance module by a universal pivot mechanism which allows the unit to be: (a) rotated and tilted to face a viewer, and (b) folded up against the appliance module and out of the way when the display unit is not in use.

Appliances

Keyboards with a construction which isolates the interior of the device from water and other deleterious substances in the ambient surroundings. The keyboard also has the capability of transmitting to a second device, upon activation of a key, a coded, preferably infrared (IR) signal uniquely corresponding to the key which is activated.

Keyboard (I)

A nondispersive infrared radiation source includes a base, a plurality of formed pins, a thick film resistor and an o-ring, the base has the shape of a cylinder and a plurality of grooves formed therein. A bore is formed in the base which is terminated by a bottom surface defined by a spherical radius. A reflective coating is applied upon the bottom surface. The plurality of formed pins are heat staked into the plurality of grooves and the o-ring is placed in one of the grooves. The thick film resistor comprises a substrate, a dielectric glass layer and a conductor layer, the substrate has a plurality of thick film resistors which are formed thereon. The plurality of thick film resistors are separated by use of a quadrapole laser. The thick film resistor is electrically connected to the plurality of pins with a solder connection. A DC source is electrically connected to the plurality of formed pins, and infrared light radiates from the resistive pad striking the reflective surface in the base, and the infrared light emits from the second end of the base.

Nondispersive infrared radiation source

Infrared radiation emitter units for gas analyzers and other applications. The emitter has a substrate with a film of electrically resistive, emissive material on one of its surfaces. The emitter is so mounted on an emitter unit base that it can freely expand as the emitter heats up. A lead frame commutator, employed to electrically connect the emitter to an external power source, also facilitates the assembly of the unit. A component with a plated, parabolic surface collimates and focuses into an appropriate beam the energy generated by the emitter.

Infrared source

Power supplies for generating a stream of electrical pulses in which successive pulses have opposite polarities. The pulses are formed and outputted from pulse generating circuitry which has two complementary pairs of MOSFETs arranged in an H-bridge configuration. Other major components of the power supply are voltage regulators for supplying positive and negative operating pulses with selected, precisely controlled voltages to the driver and watchdog circuits for disenabling the pulse outputting circuitry if: the frequency of the operating pulses deviate from a selected range, the widths of the operating pulses exceed a selected maximum, extraneous pulses are present, or the voltage of the operating pulses falls below or exceeds selected maximums. In one important application, the power supply is employed to drive the emitter of an infrared radiation source.

Power supplies

A detector unit which is capable of outputting electrical signals proportional in magnitude to the intensity of that energy in a beam thereof which lies in two different wavelength bands. A beam splitter directs energy in those bands from the entire compass of the beam to a data detector and a reference detector, and bandpass filters and optical traps in front of those detectors ensure that only energy in the selected bands and from the beam reach them. The detectors are mounted in precisely aligned relationship with each other and the beam splitter on, and are electrically isolated from, a monolithic, conductive, isothermal support which allows them to be maintained at the same, selected temperature by a system including data and reference detector heaters and a temperature responsive controller.

Temperature controlled detectors for infrared-type gas analyzers

A transducer for nondispersive infrared gas analysis has heaters for the data and reference detectors to maintain the detectors at a selected temperature. A heater is also provided to heat the casing of an airway adapter associated with the transducer to a temperature high enough to keep condensation from forming. The detector unit is surrounded and electrostatically shielded by a boxlike component with barndoor extensions which are closed to shield the installed detector unit at that end of the shield through which the detector unit is installed. The detector unit, electrostatic shield, and a circuit board which carries power supply and preamplifier circuits are installed in the transducer housing which has separate end closures sealed thereto with a through fastener and internal guides for locating the shielded detector unit in the housing.

Gas analysis transducers with electromagnetic energy detector units

Sampling attachments or systems for infrared gas analyzers of the non-dispersive type. Major components of the system include a sampling device or cuvette, a vacuum pump for effecting a flow of the gases to be analyzed through the cuvette, a microprocessor based pump control, and a switch which is closed and allows the pump to be turned on only if an appropriate sampling cuvette is connected up to the pump. The sampling attachments are designed for medical applications--to provide readings of tidal carbon dioxide, for example. They have a minimally invasive nasal cannula for collecting the gases which are to be subjected to analysis; viz., those exhaled by a patient. These gases are conducted to the cuvette through a line which is gastight but allows moisture to escape, thereby keeping moisture mixed with the gases being analyzed from corrupting the readings outputted by the gas analyzer. The attachment can be easily and quickly disassembled and the components disposed of or sterilized and recycled if they become contaminated. Provision is made for collecting the gases after they have been discharged from the cuvette so that they will not be discharged into and perhaps contaminate the ambient surroundings.

Gas analyzer

Gas analyzers of the non-dispersive infrared radiation type which are designed to measure the concentration of one gas in a mixture of gases containing that gas. An infrared radiation emitter is employed to emit energy at a frequency of 40-100 Hz with a system which includes a source driver and a timer; and a detector is used to intercept the attenuated beam after it has passed through the mixture being analyzed and output a signal indicative of the concentration of the selected gas. Also, a second detector is preferably provided so that a ratioed, error eliminating output signal can be supplied to the failsafe, signal processing circuitry of the analyzer. The detectors are electrically biased by way of flyback transformer based circuitry to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and the signal processing circuitry can be adjusted to compensate for drift. The detectors are mounted on a thermally conductive substrate along with appropriate filters, a filter frame, and a cover. The signal processing circuitry and an analog-to-digital convertor supply information to a microcomputer which: turns the infrared radiation emitter on and off and controls a heater which keeps the infrared radiation detectors at a constant, precise temperature. The microcomputer also supplies temperature, barometric pressure, and other compensation factors. Typically, a disposable airway adapter with an elongated, flanged casing will be included in the gas analyzer to confine the gases being analyzed to a path having a transverse dimension of precise and specific length and to provide an optical path across that stream of gases between the infrared radiation emitter and the infrared radiation detectors. The emitter and detectors are incorporated in a transducer head which has a U-shaped recess and can be detachably fixed to the airway adapter with a detent arrangement.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Daniel Ward Knodle