BSP :: Recent Patents on Electrical Engineering Home Page

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.