Patents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office defines a patent as, “…a property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States…”.

NIST has licensed numerous technologies for multiple industry sectors (e.g., healthcare, homeland security and cybersecurity) and seeks government, industry, and academia to partner and license NIST technologies. Visit the NIST Technology Partnerships Office section to explore the most effective partnering models and technology transfer mechanisms for your organization.

Take a moment now and explore NIST patented technologies and envision what could take your enterprise to the next level. Use “Patent Database” to search for patents issued starting fiscal year 2018 or see what technologies were patented in fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020 by accessing their individual links. View all of NIST patented technologies prior to FY20 by visiting the Federal Laboratory Consortium website.

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Recent Patents

Icemaker, Process for Controlling Same and Making Ice

NIST Inventors

David A. Yashar

Patent Description The primary function of a domestic refrigerating appliance is to maintain a low temperature within a cabinet. The desired set temperature is generally maintained by cycling the appliance's refrigeration system (compressor, fans, etc.) on and off. Automatic icemakers are commonly

Authentication Article and Process for Making Same

NIST Inventors

Yaw S. Obeng and Joseph J. Kopanski

Patent Description This invention provides for a new and useful metrology to enable counterfeit detection system capable of uniquely marking items by encoding information in their physical structure at the nanoscale. The system depends on rapidly encoding information in the physical structure of an

Noncontact Resonameter, Process for making and use of same

NIST Inventors

Jan Obrzut, Nate Orloff and Chris Long

Patent Description A noncontact resonameter includes: a resonator to: produce an excitation signal including a field; subject a sample to the excitation signal; produce a first resonator signal in a presence of the sample and the excitation signal, the first resonator signal including: a first

Phase Shift Detector Process for Making and Use of Same

NIST Inventors

Kin (Charles) Cheung, Jason Ryan and Jason Campbell

Patent Description The new NIST detector senses very small phase shifts in a highly balanced microwave bridge. An electric field optimized microwave probe, in close proximity to a sample, serves to perturb the degree of bridge balance due to a change in effective dielectric constant of the sample

Next Generation Access Control System and Process for Controlling Database Access

NIST Inventors

Joshua Roberts, Gopi Katwala, David Ferraiolo and

Patent Description The Policy Machine is an access control framework that served as the basis for the development of an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/ the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS – the central U.S. forum dedicated to creating technology

Massively parallel wafer-level reliability system and process for massively parallel wafer-level reliability testing

NIST Inventors

Kin (Charles) Cheung

Patent Description The massively parallel reliability (MPR) system is a measurement platform where thousands of semiconductor devices are tested for long term reliability. The system is designed to perform some of the standard reliability tests for certain degradation mechanisms in semiconductor

Hub and Spoke System for Detecting and Locating Gas Leaks

NIST Inventors

Greg Rieker, Ian Coddington, Nathan R Newbury, Kuldeep Prasad and Anna Karion

Patent Description The current practice for detecting methane leaks is still in its infancy. There are several environmental regulations that have driven the development of Forward-looking Infrared (FLIR) cameras, thermographic cameras that senses infrared radiation, for detection of Volatile

Optical Parametric Oscillator

NIST Inventors

John T. Woodward IV, and

Patent Description This invention is a light source that provides high-power (1W to 5W), narrow line-width (<1 nm), quasi-continuous wave (80 MHz) light that can be tuned in wavelength from 340 nm to 2300 nm. See figure below. The light source is fully automated, solid state, and fits on a

Differential compensator to reduce uncertainty in determination of movement of a structural member

NIST Inventors

Matthew Hoehler and Christopher Smith

Patent Description This invention is a method for estimating thermal expansion in a wire attached to a moving target. In typical tests it is important to measure the motion of a specimen (target) with respect to a fixed reference point, and this is often accomplished by attaching a wire or thread

Resistance Compensator to Reduce Uncertainty in Determination of Movement of a Structural Member

NIST Inventors

Matthew Hoehler and Christopher Smith

Patent Description The invention is a method of estimating thermal expansion in a "wire" (a long thin flexible element that may be metallic or nonmetallic) by measuring changes in its electrical resistance. In some materials, the electrical resistance and thermal expansion are both almost linearly

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