Abstract: A system, method and business model is disclosed in which computation and storage intensive tasks are performed using remote commercial products (13) of a product manufacturer (80) rather than with centralized resources (10) owned by the product manufacturer (80). The present invention uses the spare resources (e.g., processing, storage) of commercial products (13) of a product manufacturer (80) without impacting the products stated performance. The owners of the commercial products (13) may receive reward credits for voluntarily participating in the distributed processing system (100). The reward credits may be redeemable in any number of ways, including, for example, the purchase of future products of the product manufacturer, merchandise, resort packages, airline travel and so on. In one aspect, the product manufacturer (80) may contract out the services of the commercial products sold by the manufacturer (80) to third parties to complete their large processing tasks.

Abstract: A tongue plate apparatus (10) configured to lie on top of a human tongue (100). The tongue plate (10) having a lower surface configured to lie on top of a human tongue (100), the lower surface including a plurality of electronic stimulation nodes (13) operable to transmit externally generated electrical signals to stimulate sensory nerve fibers (102) within the human tongue (100) at predetermined locations. The tongue plate (10) also having an upper surface including saliva flow measurement means (55) for measuring a rate of change in the saliva flow rate of a human in response to the stimulation of the sensory nerve fibers (104). The tongue plate (10) facilitates the simulation of various taste sensations (i.e., sweet, sour, salty, bitter) in various regions of the tongue (100).

Abstract: A 3-D cursor control system includes a remote control unit (20) which emits ultrasonic waves. Ultrasonic sensors (14a,14b,14c) measure changes in the position of the remote control unit (20) for controlling the position of a cursor on a display. The ultrasonic sensors (14a,14b,14c) also measure the distance that the remote control unit (20) is removed from the sensors (14a,14b, 14c). This distance measurement is then used to adjust the sensitivity of the 3-D cursor control system such that the cursor moves on the display in accordance with the same movement of the remote control (20) regardless of distance of the remote control unit (20) from the ultrasonic sensors (14a,14b,14c).