The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 31, 1985
Filed:
Jun. 09, 1983
Thomas E Stixrud, San Diego, CA (US);
Barbara Sotirin, San Diego, CA (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
This invention is an apparatus and method created around a specialized micomputer attachable to and addressable to each thermister in an array of thermisters used to measure temperature in the sea. The invention provides a number of options so that the same model of microcomputer can be adapted to several different modes of operation and used to monitor a variety of other sensors that have electrical resistance, voltage or current as outputs. Alternate modes of operation for resistive sensors are presented where a number that fixes the measurement as a fraction of the dynamic range of the variable being measured is determined. The system includes the circuits and memory needed to adapt it to any of a variety of sensors measuring physical quantities. The microcomputer contains a counter that can be incremented at several rates, a voltage comparator which can be used to interrupt the counter at a number that represents the measurement, input/output buffers for connections with a remote master control unit whereby command instructions and data can be relayed to and from the microcomputer, and a voltage reference source.