Patents by Inventor Duncan J. Westland

Duncan J. Westland has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7763014
    Abstract: An ingestible device for delivering a substance to a chosen location in the GI tract of a mammal includes a receiver of electromagnetic radiation for powering an openable part of the device to an opened position for dispensing of the substance. The receiver includes a coiled wire that couples the energy field, the wire having an air or ferrite core. In a further embodiment the invention includes an apparatus for generating the electromagnetic radiation, the apparatus including one or more pairs of field coils supported in a housing. The device optionally includes a latch defined by a heating resistor and a fusible restraint. The device may also include a flexible member that may serve one or both the functions of activating a transmitter circuit to indicate dispensing of the substance; and restraining of a piston used for expelling the substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Assignee: Phaeton Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter J. Houzego, Peter N. Morgan, Peter H. Hirst, Duncan J. Westland, Ian R. Wilding
  • Patent number: 7282045
    Abstract: An ingestible device for delivering a substance to a chosen location in the GI tract of a mammal includes a receiver of electromagnetic radiation for powering an openable part of the device to an opened position for dispensing of the substance. The receiver includes a coiled wire that couples the energy field, the wire having an air or ferrite core. In a further embodiment the invention includes an apparatus for generating the electromagnetic radiation, the apparatus including one or more pairs of field coils supported in a housing. The device optionally includes a latch defined by a heating resistor and a fusible restraint. The device may also include a flexible member that may serve one or both the functions of activating a transmitter circuit to indicate dispensing of the substance; and restraining of a piston used for expelling the substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignee: Phaeton Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter J. Houzego, Peter N. Morgan, Peter H. Hirst, Duncan J. Westland, Ian R. Wilding
  • Patent number: 6632216
    Abstract: An ingestible device for delivering a substance to a chosen location in the GI tract of a mammal includes a receiver of electromagnetic radiation for powering an openable part of the device to an opened position for dispensing of the substance. The receiver includes a coiled wire that couples the energy field, the wire having an air or ferrite core. In a further embodiment the invention includes an apparatus for generating the electromagnetic radiation, the apparatus including one or more pairs of field coils supported in a housing. The device optionally includes a latch defined by a heating resistor and a fusible restraint. The device may also include a flexible member that may serve one or both the functions of activating a transmitter circuit to indicate dispensing of the substance; and restraining of a piston used for expelling the substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2003
    Assignee: Phaeton Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Peter J. Houzego, Peter N. Morgan, Peter H. Hirst, Duncan J. Westland, Ian R. Wilding
  • Publication number: 20020055734
    Abstract: An ingestible device for delivering a substance to a chosen location in the GI tract of a mammal includes a receiver of electromagnetic radiation for powering an openable part of the device to an opened position for dispensing of the substance. The receiver includes a coiled wire that couples the energy field, the wire having an air or ferrite core.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2000
    Publication date: May 9, 2002
    Inventors: Peter J. Houzego, Peter N. Morgan, Peter H. Hirst, Duncan J. Westland, Ian R. Wilding
  • Patent number: 5461507
    Abstract: The present invention provides a bistable optical device in which the active medium is a polymer material of thermo-optical effect inserted into a cavity resonator, preferably a FABRY-PEROT resonance cavity, in said cavity the polymer material transmitting and reflecting an incident light wave with bistable values and values variable according to its thermal state. This latter is varied by the absorption of a fraction of the incident light wave, which transfers heat to the polymer material to generate therein an increase in the transmission of the incident light and a variable refractive index in response to the increase in its temperature, to thus provide a positive response effect which enables the device of the present invention to vary between two bistable states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 24, 1995
    Assignee: Enichem S.p.A.
    Inventors: Duncan J. Westland, Vladimir Skarda, Werner Blau, Lorenzo Costa
  • Patent number: 5206922
    Abstract: A nonlinear all-optical switching device including a waveguide of an organic conjugated material which forms a nonlinear optical medium. The nonlinear material has an index of refraction which is a function of the local intensity of light. Light beams passing through the waveguide intersect and interact causing diffraction into secondary beams. The intensity of the diffracted beams is a function of the intensity and frequency of the intersecting light beams. The nonlinear material can respond extremely fast and provide a bandwidth exceeding 500 GHz.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1993
    Assignees: Enichem S.p.A., The University of Dublin
    Inventors: Duncan J. Westland, Vladimir Skarda, Werner Blau, Lorenzo Costa