Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100033228 | Analog Logic Automata - A distributed, reconfigurable statistical signal processing apparatus comprises an array of discrete-time analog signal processing circuitry for statistical signal processing based on a local message-passing algorithm and digital configuration circuitry for controlling the functional behavior of the array of analog circuitry. The input signal to the apparatus may be expressed as a probabilistic representation. The analog circuitry may comprise computational elements arranged in a network, with a receiving module that assigns probability values when an input signal arrives and communicates the probability values to one of the computational elements, the computational elements producing outputs based on the assigned probability values. The signal processing apparatus may be an analog logic automata cell or an array of cells, wherein each cell is able to communicate with all neighboring cells. | 02-11-2010 |
20100102848 | Asynchronous Logic Automata - A family of reconfigurable, charge-conserving asynchronous logic elements that interact with their nearest neighbors permits design and implementation of circuits that are asynchronous at the bit level, rather than at the level of functional blocks. These elements pass information by means of charge packets (tokens), rather than voltages. Each cell is self-timed, and cells that are configured as interconnect perform at propagation delay speeds, so no hardware non-local connections are needed. An asynchronous logic element comprises a set of edges for asynchronous communication with at least one neighboring cell, each edge having an input for receiving tokens from neighboring cells and an output for transferring an output charge packet to at least one neighboring cell, and circuitry configured to perform a logic operation utilizing received charge packets as inputs and to produce an output charge packet reflecting the result of the logic operation. | 04-29-2010 |
20100185837 | Reconfigurable Logic Automata - A family of reconfigurable asynchronous logic elements that interact with their nearest neighbors permits reconfigurable implementation of circuits that are asynchronous at the bit level, rather than at the level of functional blocks. These elements pass information by means of tokens. Each cell is self-timed, and cells that are configured as interconnect perform at propagation delay speeds, so no hardware non-local connections are needed. A reconfigurable asynchronous logic element comprises a set of edges for communication with at least one neighboring cell, each edge having an input for receiving tokens from neighboring cells and an output for transferring tokens to at least one neighboring cell, circuitry configured to perform a logic operation utilizing received tokens as inputs and to produce an output token reflecting the result of the logic operation, and circuitry. A reconfigurable lattice of asynchronous logic automata comprises a plurality of reconfigurable logic automata that compute by locally passing state tokens and are reconfigured by the directed shifting of programming instructions through neighboring logic elements. | 07-22-2010 |
20100289359 | Electropermanent Magnet-based Motors - An electropermanent magnet-based motor includes a stator having at least one electropermanent magnet, at least one coil around the electropermanent magnet configured to pass current pulses that affect the magnetization of the magnet, and a rotor that is movable with respect to the stator in response to changes in the magnetization of the electropermanent magnet. A wobble motor has a stator with a centrally-located core from which arms radiate outward, an electropermanent magnet and coil on each arm, and a rotor exterior to the stator such that the rotor can rotate around the stator arms. A rotary motor has a centrally-located rotor that rotates about its axis and a stator exterior to the rotor such that the rotor may rotate within the stator arms, the stator including an anteriorly-located stator core from which stator arms radiate inward toward the rotor, and an electropermanent magnet and coil on each stator arm. | 11-18-2010 |
20100292836 | Cellular Automotion Digital Material - Cellular automotion digital material is useable for rapid prototyping and fabrication of continuous string conformations and two- or three-dimensional shapes through actuation of a string, surface, or volume composed of identical discrete units. Each unit is an actuated joint having a single degree of freedom. The actuated joint includes a two-part actuator having an inner active portion and an outer passive portion that are controllably rotatable relative to each other, the outer portion being configured to fit within the housing of an adjacent cellular automotion unit, and a linkage element that includes a main strut and a housing and is connected to the actuator by a pin connector. The housing is configured to house the actuator of an adjacent cellular automation unit, and the opening in the strut is rotated about the axis of symmetry of the cellular automotion unit relative to the opening in the housing so that the alignment of the cellular automotion unit will be rotated with respect to the alignment of any adjacent unit. The cellular automotion unit may include an on-board processor for controlling actuation of the cellular automotion unit. | 11-18-2010 |
20110048543 | Microfluidic Bubble Logic Devices and Methods - A method for implementing a logic operation employs an all fluid-based no-moving part micro-mechanical logic family of microfluidic bubble logic devices that are constructed from complex sequences of microfluidic channels, microfluidic bubble modulators for programming the devices, and microfluidic droplet/bubble memory elements for chemical storage and retrieval. The input is a sequence of bubbles/droplets encoding information, with the output being another sequence of bubbles/droplets. For performing a set of reactions/tasks, the modulators program the device by producing a precisely timed sequence of bubbles/droplets, resulting in a cascade of logic operations within the microfluidic channel sequence, utilizing the generated bubbles as a control. The devices are based on the principle of minimum energy interfaces formed between the two fluid phases enclosed inside precise channel geometries. Various devices, including logic gates, non-volatile bistable memory, shift registers, multiplexers, and ring oscillators have been designed and fabricated. | 03-03-2011 |
20110192227 | Inertial Measurement Unit - In exemplary embodiments of this invention, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) includes a cantilevered proof mass and electrostatic drive. The electrostatic drive puts the proof mass into a controlled trajectory in which it oscillates rapidly, for example, by vibrating back and forth in a plane or traveling in a circular or elliptical orbit. The IMU detects lateral or angular acceleration of the IMU, by measuring the perturbations of the proof mass trajectory from the expected motion in a fixed, non-rotating inertial frame. In exemplary embodiments of this invention, the proof mass position and motion are measured by methods of differential potential measurement (with constant slope voltage), differential displacement current measurement, or phase-sensitive or synchronous detection of motion. | 08-11-2011 |
20110275143 | Microfluidic Bubble Logic Devices - Fluid-based no-moving part logic devices are constructed from complex sequences of micro- and nanofluidic channels, on-demand bubble/droplet modulators and generators for programming the devices, and micro- and nanofluidic droplet/bubble memory elements for storage and retrieval of biological or chemical elements. The input sequence of bubbles/droplets encodes information, with the output being another sequence of bubbles/droplets or on-chip chemical synthesis. For performing a set of reactions/tasks or process control, the modulators can be used to program the device by producing a precisely timed sequence of bubbles/droplets, resulting in a cascade of logic operations within the micro- or nanofluidic channel sequence, utilizing the generated droplets/bubbles as a control. The devices are based on the principle of minimum energy interfaces formed between the two fluid phases enclosed inside precise channel geometries. Various devices, including logic gates, non-volatile bistable memory, ring oscillators, bubble synchronizers, analysis chips, and printers have been designed. | 11-10-2011 |
20120025868 | Asynchronous Logic Automata - A family of self-timed, charge-conserving asynchronous logic elements that interact with their nearest neighbors permits design and implementation of circuits that are asynchronous at the bit level. The elements pass information by means of state tokens, rather than voltages. Each cell is self-timed, so no hardware non-local connections are needed. An asynchronous logic element comprises a set of edges for asynchronous communication with at least one neighboring cell, the edges receiving state tokens from neighboring logic elements and transferring output state tokens to neighboring logic elements, and circuitry configured to perform, when the circuitry inputs contain valid tokens and the circuitry outputs are empty, a logic operation utilizing received tokens as inputs, thereby producing an output token reflecting the result of the logic operation. | 02-02-2012 |
20120062277 | Reconfigurable Logic Automata - A family of reconfigurable asynchronous logic elements that interact with their nearest neighbors permits reconfigurable implementation of circuits that are asynchronous at the bit level. A reconfigurable asynchronous logic cell comprises a set of one-bit buffers for communication with at least one neighboring cell, each buffer capable of having several states and configured for receiving input state tokens from neighboring cells and for transferring output state tokens to neighboring cells, and a one-bit processor configured to perform a logic operation utilizing received tokens as inputs and to produce an output token reflecting the result of the logic operation, wherein the logic operation and the functional configuration of the buffers are reconfigurably programmable. A reconfigurable logic circuit comprises a plurality of reconfigurable logic cells that compute by locally passing state tokens and are reconfigured by the directed shifting of programming instructions through neighboring logic cells. | 03-15-2012 |
20120094060 | Methods and Apparatus for Digital Composites - In exemplary implementations of this invention, a digital material comprising many discrete units is used to fabricate a sparse structure. The units are reversibly joined by elastic connections. Each unit comprises fiber-reinforced composite material. Each unit is small compared to the sparse structure as a whole. Likewise, in a sparse structure made from this digital material, the number of types of units is small compared to the total number of units. The digital material is anisotropic. This anisotropy may be due to different fiber orientations within each unit. Furthermore, different units in a single sparse structure may be oriented in different directions and in different, non-parallel planes. In some cases, the digital material is reinforced with carbon fibers, and connections between units are stronger than the units themselves. The small discrete units may be assembled into a strong, lightweight sparse structure, such as an airframe. | 04-19-2012 |
20120158215 | Programmable Surface - In exemplary embodiments of this invention, a programmable surface comprises an array of cells. Each of the cells can communicate electronically with adjacent cells in the array, can compute, and can generate either normal thrust or shear thrust. Distributed computing is employed. The programmable surface may cover all or part of the exterior of a craft, such as an aircraft or marine vessel. Or, instead, the programmable surface may comprise the craft itself, which may, for example, take the form of a “flying carpet” or “flying sphere”. The thrust generated by the programmable surface can be employed directly to provide lift. Or it can be used to control the orientation of the craft, by varying the relative amount of thrust outputted by the respective cells. The number of cells employed may be changed on a mission-by-mission basis, to achieve “span on demand”. Each cell may carry its own payload. | 06-21-2012 |
20120291870 | Microfluidic Bubble Logic Devices and Methods - A method for implementing a logic operation employs an all fluid-based no-moving part micro-mechanical logic family of microfluidic bubble logic devices that are constructed from complex sequences of microfluidic channels, microfluidic bubble modulators for programming the devices, and microfluidic droplet/bubble memory elements for chemical storage and retrieval. The input is a sequence of bubbles/droplets encoding information, with the output being another sequence of bubbles/droplets. For performing a set of reactions/tasks, the modulators program the device by producing a precisely timed sequence of bubbles/droplets, resulting in a cascade of logic operations within the microfluidic channel sequence, utilizing the generated bubbles as a control. The devices are based on the principle of minimum energy interfaces formed between the two fluid phases enclosed inside precise channel geometries. Various devices, including logic gates, non-volatile bistable memory, shift registers, multiplexers, and ring oscillators have been designed and fabricated. | 11-22-2012 |
20120303153 | Methods and Apparatus for Online Calorimetry - In exemplary implementations of this invention, a network of nodes controls and senses the cure of a thermosetting plastic in a component that is made of fiber composite material. The network comprises multiple nodes, which are separated spatially from each other. Each of the nodes, respectively, comprises a heat transfer device for actively transferring thermal energy, a temperature sensor for taking local temperature measurements, and a processor. In each of the nodes, respectively: (a) the processor locally performs closed loop control over the temperature of the heat transfer device, and (b) the closed loop control is based at least in part on the local temperature measurements and on estimated or measured input current to the heat transfer device. | 11-29-2012 |
20130167958 | Microfluidic Bubble Logic Devices - Fluid-based no-moving part logic devices are constructed from complex sequences of micro- and nanofluidic channels, on-demand bubble/droplet modulators and generators for programming the devices, and micro- and nanofluidic droplet/bubble memory elements for storage and retrieval of biological or chemical elements. The input sequence of bubbles/droplets encodes information, with the output being another sequence of bubbles/droplets or on-chip chemical synthesis. For performing a set of reactions/tasks or process control, the modulators can be used to program the device by producing a precisely timed sequence of bubbles/droplets, resulting in a cascade of logic operations within the micro- or nanofluidic channel sequence, utilizing the generated droplets/bubbles as a control. The devices are based on the principle of minimum energy interfaces formed between the two fluid phases enclosed inside precise channel geometries. Various devices, including logic gates, non-volatile bistable memory, ring oscillators, bubble synchronizers, analysis chips, and printers have been designed. | 07-04-2013 |
20150011404 | Microfluidic Bubble Logic Devices - Fluid-based no-moving part logic devices are constructed from complex sequences of micro- and nanofluidic channels, on-demand bubble/droplet modulators and generators for programming the devices, and micro- and nanofluidic droplet/bubble memory elements for storage and retrieval of biological or chemical elements. The input sequence of bubbles/droplets encodes information, with the output being another sequence of bubbles/droplets or on-chip chemical synthesis. For performing a set of reactions/tasks or process control, the modulators can be used to program the device by producing a precisely timed sequence of bubbles/droplets, resulting in a cascade of logic operations within the micro- or nanofluidic channel sequence, utilizing the generated droplets/bubbles as a control. The devices are based on the principle of minimum energy interfaces formed between the two fluid phases enclosed inside precise channel geometries. Various devices, including logic gates, non-volatile bistable memory, ring oscillators, bubble synchronizers, analysis chips, sample collectors, and printers have been designed. | 01-08-2015 |