Patents by Inventor Ronald Griffiths

Ronald Griffiths 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).

  • Publication number: 20060248004
    Abstract: A method for administering a loan includes the steps of debiting a first account in the name of a borrower with one or more payments of capital, calculating an interest amount based on an outstanding balance on the first account and debiting at least a portion of the interest amount to a second account, in a name other than the name of the borrower, such that no interest is debited to the first account. An electronic system facilitating the use of the above method for administering a loan.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2006
    Publication date: November 2, 2006
    Inventor: Ronald Griffiths
  • Publication number: 20050147070
    Abstract: A wireless device operating under the IEEE 802.11 specifications passively scans for a wireless access point coupled to a network backbone, wherein the scanning is performed using a default set of channels. The wireless device will then determine if the access point operates under an IEEE 802.11d specification, thus providing a country code to the wireless device. The wireless device will then utilize the country code to determine if the wireless device is legally authorized to communicate with the selected access point with wireless signal channels in addition to the default set of channels. The wireless device can then communicate with a selected access point utilizing any of the default set of channels and the wireless signal channels in addition to the default set of channels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2003
    Publication date: July 7, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Daryl Cromer, Philip Jakes, Howard Locker, Ronald Griffiths
  • Publication number: 20050075136
    Abstract: A method that utilizes software means to meet the FCC requirement for an U-NII antenna to be an integral part of the device in which it operates, while providing wireless ready U-NII devices and CRUable U-NII radios. Enhancements are made to the system BIOS, including the inclusion of a table of PCI IDs and secret key pairs. The CRUable radio includes a pair of validation registers (VRs) and an EEPROM storing an PCI ID and secret key of an approved device. During boot up of the device, the PCI ID and secret key from the device's BIOS are compared against the PCI ID and secret key stored in the radio's EEPROM. The first comparison completes a radio-to-device authentication in the device, while the second comparison completes a device-to-radio authentication in the radio. U-NII transmission capability is enabled only when both parameters match, indicating FCC approved device-antenna-radio combination under the “integral” requirement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2003
    Publication date: April 7, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corp.
    Inventors: Daryl Cromer, Kazuo Fujii, Ronald Griffiths, Masaharu Itoh, Philip Jakes, Kozo Matsunaga, Masaki Oie
  • Publication number: 20050074123
    Abstract: A method that utilizes software and hardware mechanisms to meet the FCC requirement for a U-NII antenna to be an integral part of the device in which it operates, while providing wireless ready U-NII devices and CRUable U-NII radios. Enhancements are made to the software BIOS, including the inclusion of a table of approved radio-antenna PCI ID pairs to create an authentication scheme that verifies and authenticates the radio and antenna combination as being an FCC-approved unique coupling during boot-up of the system. The BIOS also comprises an OEM field that stores an encrypted secret key utilized to complete a second check of the radio model placed in the device. During boot up of the device, the PCI ID pairs from the BIOS are compared against the PCI ID of the radio and the secret key is checked against the radio model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2003
    Publication date: April 7, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corp.
    Inventors: Daryl Cromer, Kazuo Fujii, Ronald Griffiths, Masaharu Itoh, Philip Jakes, Kozo Matsunaga, Masaki Oie
  • Publication number: 20050075135
    Abstract: A method that utilizes both software and combination software and hardware mechanisms to comply with the FCC requirement for an U-NII antenna to be an integral part of the device, while providing CRUable dual mode wireless cards and wireless-ready U-NII devices. Enhancements are made to the system BIOS and Device Driver, and two new software-implemented utilities are provided to create authentication schemes that verify and authenticates the CRUable dual mode U-NII radio and antenna combination as being an FCC approved unique coupling during operation of the system. The system boots with only ISM transmission capability and is allowed to complete a U-NII transmission request only with an approved U-NII radio-antenna combination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2003
    Publication date: April 7, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corp.
    Inventors: Daryl Cromer, Kazuo Fujii, Ronald Griffiths, Masaharu Itoh, Philip Jakes, Kozo Matsunaga, Masaki Oie