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. 16, 2008
Filed:
Jan. 18, 2006
James William Evans, Piedmont, CA (US);
Michael Harris Schneider, Emeryville, CA (US);
Daniel Artemis Steingart, Berkeley, CA (US);
Paul K. Wright, Oakland, CA (US);
Donald P. Ziegler, Lower Burrell, PA (US);
James William Evans, Piedmont, CA (US);
Michael Harris Schneider, Emeryville, CA (US);
Daniel Artemis Steingart, Berkeley, CA (US);
Paul K. Wright, Oakland, CA (US);
Donald P. Ziegler, Lower Burrell, PA (US);
The Retents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Alcoa Technical Center, Alcoa Center, PA (US);
Abstract
A sensing system for sensing conditions or characteristics associated with a process or thing. The sensing system includes one or more energy converters and a sensor, which are coupled to the process or thing. A node is coupled to the sensor and the energy-converter, and the node is powered by output from the energy converter. In a more specific embodiment, the node includes a controller that implements one or more routines for selectively powering a wireless transmitter of the node based on a predetermined condition. The predetermined condition may specify that sensor output values are within a predetermined range or are below or above a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, the predetermined condition may specify that electrical energy output from the energy converter is below a predetermined threshold. A remote computer may be wirelessly connected to node and may include software and/or hardware that is adapted to process information output by the sensor and relayed to the computer via the node.