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:
Jan. 27, 2009
Filed:
Jun. 14, 2006
Gregory Hilding Huff, College Station, TX (US);
Jennifer T. Bernhard, Champaign, IL (US);
Susan Hagness, Madison, WI (US);
Debra Laefer, Dublin, IE;
Gregory Hilding Huff, College Station, TX (US);
Jennifer T. Bernhard, Champaign, IL (US);
Susan Hagness, Madison, WI (US);
Debra Laefer, Dublin, IE;
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (US);
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides several electromagnetic radiation reflectors within a volume that contains solid portions subject to movement relative to one another. At least a portion of the reflectors are positioned beneath one or more of the solid portions and move in response to movement of at least some of the solid portions. The volume is irradiated with electromagnetic radiation having one or more frequencies in a range from one kHz through one THz, and a reflection is detected of at least a portion of the electromagnetic radiation from each of the reflectors in response to this irradiation. Movement among the solid objects is evaluated from the reflection of each of the reflectors, which includes determining a spatial orientation of each one of the reflectors as a function of at least one of polarization selectivity and frequency selectivity.