Patents by Inventor Michael Pierce

Michael Pierce 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: 9522085
    Abstract: A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9504831
    Abstract: A method of treating motor deficits in a stroke patient, comprising assessing a patient's motor deficits, determining therapeutic goals for the patient, based on the patient's motor deficits, selecting therapeutic tasks based on the therapeutic goals, performing each of the selected therapeutic tasks repetitively, observing the performance of the therapeutic tasks, initiating the stimulation of the vagus nerve manually at approximately a predetermined moment during the performance of the therapeutic tasks, stimulating the vagus nerve of the patient during the performance of the selected therapeutic tasks, and improving the patient's motor deficits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce, Robert L. Rennaker
  • Patent number: 9474904
    Abstract: A method of treating motor deficits in a stroke patient, comprising assessing a patient's motor deficits, determining therapeutic goals for the patient, based on the patient's motor deficits, selecting therapeutic tasks based on the therapeutic goals, performing each of the selected therapeutic tasks repetitively, observing the performance of the therapeutic tasks, initiating the stimulation of the vagus nerve manually at approximately a predetermined moment during the performance of the therapeutic tasks, stimulating the vagus nerve of the patient during the performance of the selected therapeutic tasks, and improving the patient's motor deficits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce, Robert L. Rennaker
  • Patent number: 9339574
    Abstract: Provided herein is a method of reducing a microbial infection of a heparinized surface wherein heparin precipitation is reduced as compared to a control. In some embodiments a composition comprising ethanol and isopropanol is applied to the surface. In other embodiments, two or more ethanol compositions are applied and removed sequentially from the surface prior to contacting the surface with a biological fluid, tissue or vessel, wherein the composition in each successive administration comprises an increased amount of ethanol. Also provided is a method of reducing a microbial infection of a surface comprising applying a mucilage extract from an Opuntia ficus indica species to the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: University of South Florida
    Inventors: Mark Lawrence Kayton, Norma Alcantar, Daniel Restrepo, Nicholas S. Laconi, Audrey Lynn Buttice, Michael Pierce Ebaugh
  • Patent number: 9333355
    Abstract: A method of treating motor deficits in a stroke patient, comprising assessing a patient's motor deficits, determining therapeutic goals for the patient, based on the patient's motor deficits, selecting therapeutic tasks based on the therapeutic goals, performing each of the selected therapeutic tasks repetitively, observing the performance of the therapeutic tasks, initiating the stimulation of the vagus nerve manually at approximately a predetermined moment during the performance of the therapeutic tasks, stimulating the vagus nerve of the patient during the performance of the selected therapeutic tasks, and improving the patient's motor deficits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignees: MICROTRANSPONDER, INC., THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce, Robert L. Rennaker
  • Patent number: 9329169
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of isotopically labeling glycans and in facilitating high throughput quantitative/comparative analysis of glycomic compositions of biological cells. The method is applicable inter alia for identifying differentiated cells and their glycomic characteristics, differentiation conditions, disease and/or therapeutic progression, diagnosing disease states, determining drug activity, establishing manufacturing efficiencies and for determining the half-life of glycans in cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC
    Inventors: Robert Lance Wells, Ronald C. Orlando, Stephen Dalton, Kelley W. Moremen, James Michael Pierce, James A. Atwood, III, Michael Tiemeyer, William S. York
  • Patent number: 9265662
    Abstract: A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignees: MICROTRANSPONDER, INC., THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9265663
    Abstract: A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignees: MICROTRANSPONDER, INC., THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9265660
    Abstract: A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignees: MICROTRANSPONDER, INC., THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9265661
    Abstract: A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignees: MICROTRANSPONDER, INC., THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9260353
    Abstract: An organic feed method for use as food supplements for humans or animals as well as for feeding plants. The organic feed method generally includes first mixing an organic material such as peat moss or compost with water at a ratio of approximately 1.2 pounds of organic material to 1 gallon of water. The resulting mixture is pumped through a wet mill grinder to reduce size, maintaining a temperature of below 130 degrees Fahrenheit through the mixture and grinding processes. After grinding, the resulting mush is pumped through a 400 mesh filter, cooled to room temperature, and bottled as an organic feed. The organic feed may be utilized as a health or nutritional food supplement for humans or animals. The organic feed may also be mixed with water or chemicals such as fertilizer and applied to plants as plant feed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Pioneer Peat, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Pierce, Kevin Pierce, Austin M. Pierce
  • Patent number: 9243481
    Abstract: A compressor free, generator free system production well for accelerated oil and gas removal from a reservoir using a magnetically coupled expander pump assembly, which include an outer expansion turbine that rotates around a pump. A magnetic coupling couples the expansion turbine to the pump. An inner portion of the magnetic coupling can be coupled to a pump shaft that drives the pump. An outer portion of the magnetic coupling can be driven by the expansion turbine, which rotates circumferentially around the pump. The expansion turbine drives the fluid to pump a driven fluid stream through the magnetic coupling. In this manner, flow directions of both driving and driven fluid streams remain separate and coaxial, thereby facilitating a reduction in an overall diameter of the expander pump assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: GEOTEK ENERGY, LLC
    Inventors: Michael Pierce, Allen Swenson, Angel Sanchez, Blake Sellers
  • Patent number: 9204998
    Abstract: A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignees: MICROTRANSPONDER, INC., THE BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
    Inventors: Michael P. Kilgard, Navzer Engineer, David Michael Pierce
  • Publication number: 20150334205
    Abstract: A method for centrally providing a profile of a user's degree of preference for one or more items across categories in a plurality of domains of interest in a taxonomy of preferences is described. In one embodiment, the method includes identifying a user's degree of preference for an item from a plurality of indicators. The user's degree of preference for the item is associated with a category in a domain of interest and is stored in a profile of the user. In another embodiment, the profile identifies preferences of the user in a taxonomy of preferences across categories in a plurality of domains of interest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2015
    Publication date: November 19, 2015
    Inventor: Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9172458
    Abstract: A method of providing a high symbol rate communication system with reduced overhead bandwidth includes calculating a minimum feasible aperture length at a network operations center, setting a hub demodulator subsystem to use an aperture length calculated from the minimum feasible aperture length, broadcasting the aperture length to a VSAT, and receiving an inroute data stream from the VSAT utilizing the aperture length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: Hughes Network Systems, LLC
    Inventors: Roderick Ragland, Nimesh Ambeskar, Michael Pierce
  • Patent number: 9125959
    Abstract: Provided herein is a method of reducing a microbial infection of a heparinized surface wherein heparin precipitation is reduced as compared to a control. In some embodiments a composition comprising ethanol and isopropanol is applied to the surface. In other embodiments, two or more ethanol compositions are applied and removed sequentially from the surface prior to contacting the surface with a biological fluid, tissue or vessel, wherein the composition in each successive administration comprises an increased amount of ethanol. Also provided is a method of reducing a microbial infection of a surface comprising applying a mucilage extract from an Opuntia ficus indica species to the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: University of South Florida
    Inventors: Mark Lawrence Kayton, Norma Alcantar, Daniel Restrepo, Nicholas S. Laconi, Audrey Lynn Buttice, Michael Pierce Ebaugh
  • Patent number: 9094472
    Abstract: A method for centrally providing a profile of a user's degree of preference for one or more items across categories in a plurality of domains of interest in a taxonomy of preferences is described. In one embodiment, the method includes identifying a user's degree of preference for an item from a plurality of indicators. The user's degree of preference for the item is associated with a category in a domain of interest and is stored in a profile of the user. In another embodiment, the profile identifies preferences of the user in a taxonomy of preferences across categories in a plurality of domains of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Inventor: Michael Pierce
  • Publication number: 20150121868
    Abstract: In a geothermal power system that includes a turbine generator, a down-hole heat exchanger, and a turbine pump assembly, various arrangements for the turbine pump assembly are described. Those arrangements address considerations related to the design of the down-hole turbine pump. In such a system, the turbine generator receives a high pressure working fluid from the down-hole system to drive a generator. The turbine generator is in fluid communication with the down-hole heat exchanger and with the turbine portion of a removably disposed down-hole turbine pump assembly. The pump portion of the down-hole turbine pump assembly is in fluid communication with the down-hole heat exchanger and a source of geothermal fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2012
    Publication date: May 7, 2015
    Applicant: GEOTEK ENERGY, LLC
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Fryrear, Michael Pierce, Dave Marshall, Frederick E. Becker, Sharon Wight, Jamin Bitter, Alexander Gofer
  • Publication number: 20150094785
    Abstract: A method of treating motor deficits in a stroke patient, comprising assessing a patient's motor deficits, determining therapeutic goals for the patient, based on the patient's motor deficits, selecting therapeutic tasks based on the therapeutic goals, performing each of the selected therapeutic tasks repetitively, observing the performance of the therapeutic tasks, initiating the stimulation of the vagus nerve manually at approximately a predetermined moment during the performance of the therapeutic tasks, stimulating the vagus nerve of the patient during the performance of the selected therapeutic tasks, and improving the patient's motor deficits.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2014
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Inventors: Michael P. KILGARD, Navzer ENGINEER, David Michael PIERCE, Robert L. RENNAKER
  • Publication number: 20150073493
    Abstract: A method of treating motor deficits in a stroke patient, comprising assessing a patient's motor deficits, determining therapeutic goals for the patient, based on the patient's motor deficits, selecting therapeutic tasks based on the therapeutic goals, performing each of the selected therapeutic tasks repetitively, observing the performance of the therapeutic tasks, initiating the stimulation of the vagus nerve manually at approximately a predetermined moment during the performance of the therapeutic tasks, stimulating the vagus nerve of the patient during the performance of the selected therapeutic tasks, and improving the patient's motor deficits.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2014
    Publication date: March 12, 2015
    Inventors: Michael P. KILGARD, Navzer ENGINEER, David Michael PIERCE, Robert L. RENNAKER