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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, June 10, 2003

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HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The Dilated Pupil Patent of the Day goes to International Business Machines Corporation of New York
for an Eye prosthesis

The Dream Alert Patent of the Day goes to an Inventor from Chicago
for an Apparatus for facilitating analysis of dream activity
    Index
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NEWS
TiVo, Gemstar settle lawsuit
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/6053782.htm
Gemstar accused TiVo of patent infringement in 2000 in a dispute over its on-screen guide technology. TiVo countersued. The legal battle ended Monday between TiVo, the San Jose pioneer of digital video recording, and Gemstar-TV Guide, a supplier of electronic TV guides to cable and satellite providers. The two companies dismissed their lawsuits and became partners on a licensing deal. TiVo will license a patent from Gemstar, which will provide content for the TiVo service. TiVo said it hopes the agreement will open the door to future deals with makers of consumer products such as DVD players.
    Index
Patent battle may cost Guidant $425 million
http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/0/048698-5100-031.html
Guidant Corp. has been ordered to pay a whopping $425 million in damages to rival Johnson & Johnson for infringing on its heart stent patents. The huge award amounts to 66 percent of Guidant's earnings last year -- 10 percent of its total revenues from heart stents since it entered the market in the mid-1990s. Still, the Indianapolis medical device maker hastened to reassure investors Thursday. "While the award is large, it will not significantly alter the financial position of the company," Guidant spokesman Steve Tragash said. "We have a large net cash flow to handle this," amounting to about $1 billion, he said.
    Index
Inverness settles suit with Pfizer
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/inverness06102003.htm
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., a maker of women's health products, yesterday said it settled a patent infringement suit with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. The two companies had been at odds over Pfizer's e.p.t. pregnancy test kit, which currently represents about 30 percent of the market. In March, a New Jersey court ordered Pfizer to halt e.p.t. shipments due to a "likely" patent violation of Inverness' Clearblue Easy home pregnancy test, which controls about 7 percent of the market. Under the settlement, Inverness, through its subsidiary Unipath Ltd., will now be Pfizer's exclusive manufacturer and supplier of the e.p.t. In addition, Pfizer will make "certain payments" to Inverness over the next year, as both companies agreed to drop all pending litigation.
    Index
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PATENTS OF THE DAY

6,576,013

Eye prosthesis

Background:  Eye prosthesis devices simulate the appearance of a natural eye and therefore provide a better facial appearance to someone who has lost one or both eyes. In the past a spherical or globe shaped device having an eye image on the surface was inserted in the vacant socket from which the natural eye was removed. A much better appearance is provided, however if the artificial eye moves in tandem with a natural eye. Various methods have therefore been developed for attaching the eye movement muscle tendons to a ball shaped eye socket insert. The ball will then move in tandem with a natural eye through a well known process of sympathetic muscle action. Typically, a sclera, iris, and pupil matching the natural eye are painted on the ball or removable front section during manufacture by a professional person known as an ocularist. However, once painting is complete, the size of the pupil is fixed on the artificial eye. The natural eye will have a changing pupil size depending on ambient light as is well known. The ocularist therefore selects an intermediate size for the painted pupil as a best match.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention there is presented a new apparatus and method for adjusting pupil size in an ocular prosthesis. It is believed that such a device constitutes a significant advancement in the art. Even though eye prosthesis are primarily intended for human use, it will be obvious to those of skill in the art that application will also extend to use in animals, dolls, mannequins, robots or any other objects having an eye.

Main Claim:  An adjustable iris image for an artificial eye, comprising;
  a color liquid crystal display positioned within said artificial eye;
  a memory chip coupled to said color liquid crystal display having a plurality of patterns corresponding to a plurality of iris images to be shown on said color liquid crystal display;
  a light sensor coupled to said memory chip; and
  means for sending in response to said light sensor, one of said plurality of patterns to said color liquid crystal display.

Index

6,575,895

Apparatus for facilitating analysis of dream activity

Background: The lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer is aware of dreaming while remaining in the dream state. This arcane condition is often the focus of sleep labs and research institutes. Such facilities have developed devices to sense a sleeper's dreaming or non-dreaming state. Many experiments have been performed to awaken test subjects during the so-called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) periods of sleep. It has been determined that these periods usually correspond with dream activity. When a test subject is awakened during a REM event, the subject is usually able to remember the dream which was occurring at the time he or she was awakened. If the test subject is not awakened, the dream is more likely to be forgotten during the intervening periods of deeper, dreamless sleep. Thus, for those individuals who are interested in investigating the subjects of their dreams it is desirable that they occasionally be woken up either during or shortly after a REM event.

Abstract: A programmable dream analyzer apparatus for assisting the user in recording his or her dreams, comprising a microcontroller for receiving input defining the user's sleep period, and calculating the time and playing an alert for each REM event predicted to occur during the user's sleep period. The strength of each alert may be user adjusted, such that it is sufficient to wake the user during a REM event, but not during non-REM sleep. The dream analyzer further incorporates a voice activated recording device to allow the user to record a description of his or her dream upon awaking from a REM event without moving.