Oppenheimer Patents: Patent & Writing Samples

From Complexity To Clarity®

Patents and Technical Writing Samples

All illustrations shown in the patents and documentation samples (and on this web page) were created by me using Visio and other graphics tools, sometimes with a little help from some clip art. A full list of patent applications I've drafted is presented below.

Sample Application (Telecommunication Hardware) — Improved Power Management for Cell Phones:
Network Connection And Power Management In A Wireless Device

Media access control is delegated from a host device (such as a WiFi device) to a smart wireless communications module. The host provides to the smart module a list of one or more preferred networks. The smart module offloads from the host the processing required to scan for the preferred network(s), as well as other management tasks. This allows rapid adaptation to a changing network environment.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (Combined Hardware / Software) — Fine-Grained Visual Location Tracking:
Simulation Arena Entity Tracking System

Video cameras locate players and objects within an arena. Each player and object has attached to it a light-emitting device which emits a unique light signature. The invention performs frame-to-frame analysis of the light sources to determine motion of players and objects in three dimensions.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (Mechanical, Biomedical) — Device Operations Improvement:
Eye Scanner With Visor For Eye Distance Determination

A hand-held iris scanner, used for identifying individuals, has a visor connected to the main body of the scanner. The visor, which is hinged, can be folded and locked into an extended position. In the open position the free-floating end provides a contoured surface against which a user places his or her forehead. This lets users automatically positions their eyes within the field of view of the scanner optics, and at an optimum distance for focused imaging by the scanner.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (Software) — Self-Location Determination by Hardware:
Orientation and Location Calibration for Image Sensors

Video cameras and point sources of light determine the location and orientation of video cameras in an arena. Accelerometers to the the video cameras determine the angular orientations of the cameras. Measurements are also obtained of the distance from each camera to at least two known points of light. Camera angular orientation and camera distance information are combined to determine the position of each video camera.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (Electronics) — Generic Method For Integrated Circuit Power Reduction:
Integrated Circuit With Modular Dynamic Power Optimization Architecture

Regulating power consumption in an integrated circuit (IC) via a modular design. The IC is designed so that distinct functional modules utilize only transistors with a common critical voltage level. The supply voltage for each module can then be lowered to the minimum necessary to let the transistors in the module operate. Fine-tuning the voltages supplied to specific modules reduces power consumption.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (Business Method) — Improved Organization of Internal Corporate Data:
Identification and Linking of Related Customer Files in a Large Business Database

In a business enterprise which maintains multiple accounts for each business customer, a method, system, and computer program product correctly links accounts associated with a single location of a common business. Further hierarchical linkages are established between accounts associated with multiple locations of the common business.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (Mechanical, Biomedical) — Improved Wiring for Pacemakers:
Small Caliber Implantable Biometric Leads and Cables For Same

Implantable electric cables (used with pacemakers) provide for optimized mechanical and electrical properties. The conducting filaments within the cable have oval cross-sections. Using oval filaments increases the contact surface between adjacent filaments, broadly distributing the pressure between filaments and reducing contact fatigue. The oval cross-sections also increase conductivity.

Excerpt

Full Application

Sample Application (System Level) — Software-Based Power Management for Ethernet Switches:
System and Method of Dynamic Power Management

A power supply (PSE) supplies power to communications devices. The PSE monitors the power consumed by the devices, and dynamically determines the minimum power which can be allocated to each device. When additional power is available, the PSE preferentially allocates power to devices which have higher priority.

Excerpt

Full Application

Technical Writing Samples

This document contains excerpts from three items of technical documentation I've created during my career:

A Users Guide
Internal Hardware/Software Documentation
A Technology White Paper

Click here for pdf.

Science Writing Samples

This document contains three articles on science I wrote early in my career:

A Profile of Young Physicist Wunderkind Stephen Wolfram
An Article on Fiber Optics, back when fiber optics was very, very new
A software review of an early version of Mathcad mathematics software

Click here for pdf.

Patents Drafted

The following is a list of 27 patents I have drafted.

The list does not include additional applications which were initially drafted by others, where I made significant contributions by way of editing, rewriting claims, enhancing figures, etc. It also does not reflect my extensive experience with claims drafting for reissues, continuations, adaptations of foreign patents for U.S. filings, and amendments made in replies to Office actions.

Software / Combination Hardware and Software
> US 2008/0306708 Germain, Orientation and Location Calibration for Image Sensors (excerpted above)
> US 2007/0152157 Page, Simulation Arena Entity Tracking System (excerpted above)
> US 2008/0114997 Chin, System and Method of Dynamic Power Management (excerpted above)
> US 2009/0021376 Calvarese, RFID Tag Moving Coherently With Reader
> A signal processing application directed to measuring impulse noise (not filed due to client budget constraints)
> A telecommunications application directed to a method for simplified network management while maintaining network security (not yet published)

Electronic Hardware
> US 2009/0022068 Iyer, Delegated Network Connection Management In A Wireless Device (excerpted above)
> US 2010/0005328 Rakshani, Integrated Circuit With Modular Dynamic Power Optimization (excerpted above)
> US 2008/0246537 Aziz, Programmable Discontinuity Resistors
> US 2009/0058599 Calvarese, Rip Strip RFID tags

Web / Business Method
> US 2008/0301016 Durvasula, Customer Linking and Identification Capability for Institutions (excerpted above)
> US 2008/0208735 Balet, Linking Business Customer Contacts
> US 2007/0192121 Routson, Honoring Customer Privacy and Preferences

Mechanical
> US 2009/0092292 Carver, Eye Scanner With Visor (excerpted above)
> US 2010/0204767 Zhao, Small Caliber Implantable Biometric Leads and Cables For Same (excerpted above)
> Portable Biometric Scanner for Fingerprint Scanning (not filed due to client budget constraints, but was published defensively)

Biomedical / Electronics and Signal Processing
> US 2010/0114235 Beauvais, Hybrid Battery System For Implantable Cardiac Therapy Device
> US 2010/0114236 Bomzin, Hybrid Battery System With Bioelectric Cell for Implantable Cardiac Therapy
The above two applications were co-authored with a colleague.

A total of eight patents drafted and filed for St. Jude Medical, Inc., a major manufacturer of biomedical equipment (pacemakers, etc.). Two are listed immediately above, and one is the Small Caliber Implantable Biometric Leads (listed above under "Biomedical", and also excerpted above), a mechanical application. Five applications were filed with a non-publication request, and none have come to issue to date, so details cannot be disclosed. General technologies included:
> Signal processing to extract significant, high-level physiological data/patient behavioral data from raw cardiac and respiratory data
> Implanted optical technologies for systemic biometric measurements
> Miscellaneous mechanical, structural, or software interface enhancements to biometric sensors

Biometrics / Optical
(The following were not filed due to client budget constraints)
>> A first application pertaining to the use of holographic elements in a biometric scanner
>> A second application pertaining to the use of holographic elements in a biometric scanner
>> An application pertaining to pulse detection via a biometric scanner

Sample Replies to Office Actions / Pre-Appeal Briefs

I have numerous samples of replies to USPTO Office Actions, and several pre-appeal briefs I drafted, on behalf of various clients. Some of these were in technical realms quite apart from my application work. For example, I have extensive experience with web/internet applications, and also applications in the realms of signal processing, cryptography, and computer graphics.

Although all these documents are publicly available on the USPTO web site (and so available as well for public distribution), I prefer to not post them on this web site. However, I will distribute them directly to interested potential clients. Please contact me for samples.

"Oppenheimer Communications" is a registered trade name in the State of Maryland, USA. This site is not affiliated with nor endorsed by any of the organizations, corporations, other organizational entities and/or persons named or identified on this Web site apart from Steven C. Oppenheimer, and further such organizations, corporations, other organizational entities and/or persons apart from Steven C. Oppenheimer are not responsible for the content of this Web site or the views or opinions expressed on this Web site. All text and content on this site are the sole property and responsibility of Steven C. Oppenheimer.