Recent Patents on Electrical Engineering
ISSN: 1874-4761 - Volume 1, 2008
Recent Patents on Electrical
Engineering
Volume 1, Number 1, January 2008
Contents
Innovative Techniques for Two-Phase Flow Measurements
Pp. 1-13
Wael H. Ahmed and Basel I. Ismail
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Patents on Synchronization Techniques in Wireless
OFDM Systems Pp. 14-21
Ai Bo, Zhong Zhang-Dui, Zhu Gang, Xu Rong-Tao and Ding
Jian-Wen
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
RFID Technology for the Health Care Sector
Pp. 22-31
Agusti Solanas and Jordi Castellà-Roca
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Wireless Sensors for Home Monitoring - A Review
Pp. 32-39
Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay, Anuroop Gaddam and Gourab S. Gupta
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
A Survey of Recent Patents on Radio Frequency Identification
Systems and Applications Pp. 40-46
Abhijit Mitra
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Microwave Irradiation Effect on Ti-Doped Ta2O5
Stacked Capacitors Pp. 47-58
Elena Atanassova, Raisa V. Konakova, Vadim F. Mitin, Dencho
Spassov, Oksana S. Lytvyn and Volodymyr V. Shynkarenko
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Intellectual Property and Ubiquitous RFID Pp.
59-67
Marlin H. Mickle, James T. Cain and Alex K. Jones
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
A Review of Recent Patents on Ultra Wide Band (UWB)
Antennas Pp. 68-75
Ali Akdagli, Caner Ozdemir and Serhan Yamacli
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Recent Patents on Corrosion Control and Leak Detection
Schemes in Boilers Pp. 76-83
Adarsha Swarnakar
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Linewidth Enhancement Factor in the Quantum Dots:
Non Thermal Coupling Case Pp. 84-88
Amin H. Al-Khursan
[Abstract] [Full
Text Article]
Patent
Selections Pp. 89-93
Abstracts
[Back to top]
Innovative Techniques for Two-Phase Flow Measurements
Wael H. Ahmed and Basel I. Ismail
[Full
Text Article]
Two-phase flow is important in an increasing number of
applications and industries. For example, the safety analysis
codes for the nuclear energy industry require closure relations
for the vapor-liquid interfacial transfer terms, while accurate
two-phase pressure drop models are necessary to design the
piping systems in the oil and gas industry. Also, two-phase
flow occurs in heat exchangers, steam generators, chemical
reactors, oil transportation and many other process equipments.
In addition, development of accurate and suitable instrumentations
for on-line monitoring and measurement of the solids concentration
and velocity in gas-solid two-phase flows has proven to be
a challenging problem with many scientists and engineers worldwide
developing novel techniques for this application. This paper
presents a review on the electrical-based measurement techniques
for gas-solid and gas-liquid two-phase flows along with the
most recent patents developed for two-phase flow measurements.
Also, development of a novel method for the design of capacitance
sensors for void fraction measurement and flow pattern identification
was presented in detail.
[Back to top]
Patents on Synchronization Techniques in Wireless
OFDM Systems
Ai Bo, Zhong Zhang-Dui, Zhu Gang, Xu Rong-Tao and Ding
Jian-Wen
[Full Text Article]
The latest patents on the synchronization techniques in wireless
OFDM communications systems are overviewed in this paper.
The novel inventions and methods in those patents, which deal
with the symbol timing synchronization, the carrier frequency
synchronization as well as the sampling clock synchronization
in either the continuous transmission mode or the burst packet
transmission mode systems are introduced and analyzed. Based
on the corresponding analysis, the technical forecast and
the future developments for synchronization techniques in
OFDM systems are discussed in the paper as well.
[Back to top]
RFID Technology for the Health Care Sector
Agusti Solanas and Jordi Castellà-Roca
[Full
Text Article]
Health care is the linchpin of a developed society. The general
trend in developed countries is to increase public spending
to improve the quality of health care. However, the economic
model applied to the health care sector varies from one country
to another. There are models in which health care costs are
mainly supported by governments. On the contrary, there are
other economic models such as the “fee-for-service"
model in which patients pay for the services like in any other
service industry. Whichever model is used, technology can
help increase the efficiency of the service and the reliability
of the diagnoses. Specially, Radio Frequency IDentification
(RFID) technology can drastically improve the processing times
associated to medical records retrieval, dispensing of medications,
personnel management, etc.
In this article, we explore some of the most relevant patents,
which propose the use of the RFID technology in the health
care sector. We provide an overview of the field and a classification
of the patents in several categories, being the aim to facilitate
the task of researchers, practitioners and managers when looking
for patents in this field. Moreover, we analyse a recent and
relevant patent application from Kodak™ that provides
a system for monitoring the ingestion of medicines by means
of digestible RFID tags attached to the medicines.
[Back to top]
Wireless Sensors for Home Monitoring - A Review
Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay, Anuroop Gaddam and Gourab S. Gupta
[Full
Text Article]
A review of wireless sensors and sensor networks, especially
for in-home monitoring of elderly people, has been presented
in this paper. The characteristics of various sensors for
monitoring applications have been studied. The requirements
of the sensor for making a smart sensor network have been
investigated. A typical in-house developed system for home
monitoring and elder-care application has been presented.
A few patents on the sensors for home monitoring have been
reviewed.
[Back to top]
A Survey of Recent Patents on Radio Frequency Identification
Systems and Applications
Abhijit Mitra
[Full
Text Article]
The generic term radio frequency identification system has
become important of late for its huge potential in business
applications. These wireless systems usually have two parts,
a tag and a reader, that can communicate with each other by
using radio frequency energy even at a moderate distance.
Since such systems work with non contact as well as non line
of sight principle, they have already started replacing the
common identification systems such as bar codes. This paper
provides an overview of certain recent radio frequency identification
systems and applications patents. An important patent in this
field is also discussed at length. The current development
constraints as well as a few key future development trends
are also mentioned.
[Back to top]
Microwave Irradiation Effect on Ti-Doped Ta2O5
Stacked Capacitors
Elena Atanassova, Raisa V. Konakova, Vadim F. Mitin, Dencho
Spassov, Oksana S. Lytvyn and Volodymyr V. Shynkarenko
[Full
Text Article]
The effect of short time (up to 15 s) microwave irradiation
at room temperature on the electrical characteristics of Ti-doped
Ta2O5
(8-30 nm) stacks with Al and W gates has been investigated.
The irradiation has major impact on the leakage current and
can strongly reduce it up to 4 orders of magnitude (current
level below ~ 10-7 A/cm2
is easily obtained). The current reduction and a tendency
of conduction mechanism changing upon irradiation is considered
to be due to irradiation induced annealing of electrically
active defects generated during Ta2O5 deposition, during doping
and/or by a high damage gate deposition process as rf sputtering.
The results are compared with those for pure Ta2O5
and are discussed in terms of relative influence of the initial
parameters of the stack, and the role of incorporated Ti on
the oxygen-vacancy related defects. The current reduction
is not accompanied by either interface layer thickness increase
or film crystallization. As easily applicable method microwave
irradiation can be used as alternative to high temperature
annealing process for leakage current characteristics improving
of high-k Ti-doped Ta2O5
capacitors. The review covers important Patents which are
useful in this field.
[Back to top]
Intellectual Property and Ubiquitous RFID
Marlin H. Mickle, James T. Cain and Alex K. Jones
[Full
Text Article]
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a ubiquitous technology
with a wide variety of uses in several different environments
and application domains. The EPCGlobal Class 1 Generation
2, or “Gen 2” specification has recently received
significant attention both in notoriety and application. However,
while considered a relatively recent technology, the subject
of RFID has a long history in intellectual property (IP) patents,
which can be traced in the United States back to at least
1930. This paper describes three important points in the development
of in RFID related to IP beginning with foundational patents
in Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) and how this technology
has become the foundation for current RFID efforts. The second
important turning point relates to difficulties faced by ubiquitous
application of a technology without involving IP using the
Gen 2 specification as an example. Finally, a patent application
in process is presented that allows the automated generation
of new RFID protocols. This final IP has the potential to
encompass many more specific patents related to RFID communication
protocols and provide a new emphasis on how IP is regarded
for RFID.
[Back to top]
A Review of Recent Patents on Ultra Wide Band (UWB)
Antennas
Ali Akdagli, Caner Ozdemir and Serhan Yamacli
[Full
Text Article]
In this article, recent patents on UWB antennas are reviewed;
different geometries, design parameters and their experimental
results are discussed. Several types of UWB antennas including
special horn, patch and array antennas in recent patents are
explained together while comparing their measured return loss,
gain and radiation patterns. Projections to the future developments
of UWB antenna technology are also given.
[Back to top]
Recent Patents on Corrosion Control and Leak Detection
Schemes in Boilers
Adarsha Swarnakar
[Full
Text Article]
For industrial processes, namely, power systems, chemical
systems and oil refinery systems, the boilers play an important
role in the overall plant operation. If they are operated
continuously for an extended period of time, then due to chemical
reactions, aging and stress caused by the heating process,
there are problems of corrosion, slag precipitation and leaks
in different components. This deterioration invariably leads
to a reduction in the amount of steam generated, equipment
damage and, in some cases, complete plant shutdown. This paper
presents a survey on recent patents, which deals with monitoring
and control of corrosion, slag as well as different leak detection
schemes. The focus of this survey is on slagging and corrosion
control in superheated tubes of the waste to energy (WTE)
boilers as well as monitoring the corrosion of carbon steel
in boiler-drum. For different leak detection schemes, it is
well known that most of them generate false alarms. Therefore,
some new inventions on the maximum number of false alarms
tolerated by the system and the acceptable operation of the
leak detection systems are also presented.
[Back to top]
Linewidth Enhancement Factor in the Quantum Dots:
Non Thermal Coupling Case
Amin H. Al-Khursan
[Full
Text Article]
A theory of gain, refractive index, and linewidth enhancement
factor in the quantum dots (QDs) in the nonthermal coupling
(NTC) case is discussed. The ground and excited state transitions
are included. Effect of parameters, like recombination time
and radiative transition time, is studied. The study shows
that the QDs can have zero linewidth enhancement factor. The
present review covers important patents useful in this field.
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