Patents by Inventor David J. Thomas

David J. Thomas 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: 5641349
    Abstract: Thermally-inhibited starches and flours are used in conventional water-based adhesives such as corrugating, cigarette, remoistenable, kraft adhesives. The starches or flours are thermally-inhibited by dehydrating the starch to anhydrous or substantially anhydrous and then heat-treating the starch or flour for a time and at a temperature sufficient to inhibit the starch and improve its viscosity stability. The starch or flour may be thermally or non-thermally dehydrated (e.g., by alcohol extraction or freeze-drying). Preferably, the pH of the starch is adjusted to at least a neutral pH prior to the dehydration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: National Starch and Chemical Investment Holding Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy C. Koubek, Russell J. Nesiewicz, Michael T. Philbin, Joseph Wieczorek, Jr., Chung-Wai Chiu, Eleanor Schiermeyer, David J. Thomas, Manish B. Shah, Daniel B. Solarek
  • Patent number: 5619999
    Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system comprises a position location array adapted to be affixed to a surface layer of an imaging subject. The position location array comprises a plurality of electrodes disposed in a grid pattern within a flexible substrate. An imaging transducer having at least one element is operable to provide an acoustic pulse through the position location array and the surface layer in response to a driving signal and to provide a corresponding return signal in response thereto. A receiver is coupled to the imaging transducer to receive the return signal from the at least one element and provide a beamformed signal. A processor coupled to the receiver and the position location array forms an image from the beamformed signal that includes position coordinates that correspond to an intersection between the acoustic pulse and associated ones of the plurality of electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 15, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick L. Von Behren, David J. Thomas
  • Patent number: 5205175
    Abstract: An ultrasound imager supports several ultrasonic transducers simultaneously. The imager polls the transducer connection ports to determine which transducers are connected to which port and displays attributes of each transducer in conjunction with a port identification on the screen. The user selects which transducer is to be driven using a trackball or cursor arrow which directs an indicator to point to the selected transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1993
    Assignee: Acoustic Imaging Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Jose A. Q. Garza, George W. Gilman, David J. Thomas
  • Patent number: 4821178
    Abstract: The disclosure provides event-controlled operations for an internal hardware/softward monitor for a processor in a data processing system. It embeds and distributes in each processor at least one instrumentation table unit (ITU) and event detection circuitry to detect events and conditions for collecting event-sampled hardware signals provided in the processor hardware in which the respective ITU is embedded. Instrumentation measurement is controlled centrally in the system. Sampling of the CPU signals for recording in the ITU is done at (or a sub-multiple of) the occurrence rate of the selected event(s) in the processor. The sampled signals are recorded in the ITU. The ITUs of plural processors are asynchronously operated in a system. The event-driven monitoring circuitry may be solely provided in an ITU, or it may be superimposed on a timer-driven internal instrumentation system of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,550 in which the ITU is shared between event and timer driven modes of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 1986
    Date of Patent: April 11, 1989
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Arthur L. Levin, Don W. Rain, David J. Thomas