Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090208834 | SECONDARY BATTERY WITH AUXILIARY ELECTRODE - The present invention includes three-dimensional secondary battery cells comprising an electrolyte, a cathode, an anode, and an auxiliary electrode. The cathode, the anode, and the auxiliary electrode have a surface in contact with the electrolyte. The anode and the cathode are electrolytically coupled. The auxiliary electrode is electrolytically coupled and electrically coupled to at least one of the anode or the cathode. Electrically coupled means directly or indirectly connected in series by wires, traces or other connecting elements. The average distance between the surface of the auxiliary electrode and the surface of the coupled cathode or the coupled anode is between about 1 micron and about 10,000 microns. The average distance means the average of the shortest path for ion transfer from every point on the coupled cathode or anode to the auxiliary electrode. | 08-20-2009 |
20090263716 | ANODE MATERIAL HAVING A UNIFORM METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOY LAYER - The present invention relates to methods for producing anode materials for use in nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries. In the present invention, a metal-semiconductor alloy layer is formed on an anode material by contacting a portion of the anode material with a solution containing metals ions and a dissolution component. When the anode material is contacted with the solution, the dissolution component dissolves a part of the semiconductor material in the anode material and deposit the metal on the anode material. After deposition, the anode material and metal are annealed to form a uniform metal-semiconductor alloy layer. The anode material of the present invention can be in a monolithic form or a particle form. When the anode material is in a particle form, the particulate anode material can be further shaped and sintered to agglomerate the particulate anode material. | 10-22-2009 |
20090263717 | NONAQUEOUS ELECTROLYTE SECONDARY BATTERY ANODE MATERIAL WITH A UNIFORM METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOY LAYER - The present invention relates to nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries and durable anode materials and anodes for use in nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries. The present invention also relates to methods for producing these anode materials. In the present invention, a metal-semiconductor alloy layer is formed on an anode material by contacting a portion of the anode material with a displacement solution. The displacement solution contains ions of the metal to be deposited and a dissolution component for dissolving a part of the semiconductor in the anode material. When the anode material is contacted with the displacement solution, the dissolution component dissolves a part of the semiconductor in the anode material thereby providing electrons to reduce the metal ions and deposit the metal on the anode material. After deposition, the anode material and metal are annealed to form a uniform metal-semiconductor alloy layer. | 10-22-2009 |
20110111283 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL BATTERIES AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - Various methods and apparatus relating to three-dimensional battery structures and methods of manufacturing them are disclosed and claimed. In certain embodiments, a three-dimensional battery comprises a battery enclosure, and a first structural layer within the battery enclosure, where the first structural layer has a first surface, and a first plurality of conductive protrusions extend from the first surface. A first plurality of electrodes is located within the battery enclosure, where the first plurality of electrodes includes a plurality of cathodes and a plurality of anodes, and wherein the first plurality of electrodes includes a second plurality of electrodes selected from the first plurality of electrodes, each of the second plurality of electrodes being in contact with the outer surface of one of said first plurality of conductive protrusions. Some embodiments relate to processes of manufacturing energy storage devices with or without the use of a backbone structure or layer. | 05-12-2011 |
20120115026 | NEGATIVE ELECTRODE STRUCTURE FOR NON-AQUEOUS LITHIUM SECONDARY BATTERY - The present invention relates to a negative electrode structure for use in a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and a method of making such negative electrode structure. The negative electrode structure comprises: a monolithic anode comprising a semiconductor material, and a uniform ion transport structure disposed at the monolithic anode surface for contacting a non-aqueous electrolyte, wherein the uniform ion transport structure serves as a current collector and the negative electrode structure does not contain another current collector. The present invention also relates to a battery comprising the negative electrode structure of the present invention, a cathode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte. | 05-10-2012 |
20120176093 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE CHARGING OR DISCHARGING PROCESS OF A SECONDARY BATTERY WITH AUXILIARY ELECTRODE - The present invention includes three-dimensional secondary battery cells comprising an electrolyte, a cathode, an anode, and an auxiliary electrode. The cathode, the anode, and the auxiliary electrode have a surface in contact with the electrolyte. The anode and the cathode are electrolytically coupled. The auxiliary electrode is electrolytically coupled and electrically coupled to at least one of the anode or the cathode. Electrically coupled means directly or indirectly connected in series by wires, traces or other connecting elements. The average distance between the surface of the auxiliary electrode and the surface of the coupled cathode or the coupled anode is between about 1 micron and about 10,000 microns. The average distance means the average of the shortest path for ion transfer from every point on the coupled cathode or anode to the auxiliary electrode. | 07-12-2012 |
20120177993 | NONAQUEOUS ELECTROLYTE SECONDARY BATTERY ANODE MATERIAL WITH A UNIFORM METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOY LAYER - The present invention relates to nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries and durable anode materials and anodes for use in nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries. The present invention also relates to methods for producing these anode materials. In the present invention, a metal-semiconductor alloy layer is formed on an anode material by contacting a portion of the anode material with a displacement solution. The displacement solution contains ions of the metal to be deposited and a dissolution component for dissolving a part of the semiconductor in the anode material. When the anode material is contacted with the displacement solution, the dissolution component dissolves a part of the semiconductor in the anode material thereby providing electrons to reduce the metal ions and deposit the metal on the anode material. After deposition, the anode material and metal are annealed to form a uniform metal-semiconductor alloy layer. | 07-12-2012 |
20130019468 | ANODIZED METALLIC BATTERY SEPARATOR HAVING THROUGH-PORES - A battery includes an anode and a cathode. An electrolyte material is disposed between the anode and the cathode. A separator is disposed between the anode and the cathode. The separator comprises an anodized metal oxide layer having substantially straight and parallel through-pores, wherein the anodized metal oxide of the porous anodized metal oxide layer is selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide, niobium oxide, tungsten oxide, tantalum oxide, and hafnium oxide. | 01-24-2013 |
20130143120 | ANODE MATERIAL HAVING A UNIFORM METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR ALLOY LAYER - The present invention relates to methods for producing anode materials for use in nonaqueous electrolyte secondary batteries. In the present invention, a metal-semiconductor alloy layer is formed on an anode material by contacting a portion of the anode material with a solution containing metals ions and a dissolution component. When the anode material is contacted with the solution, the dissolution component dissolves a part of the semiconductor material in the anode material and deposit the metal on the anode material. After deposition, the anode material and metal are annealed to form a uniform metal-semiconductor alloy layer. The anode material of the present invention can be in a monolithic form or a particle form. When the anode material is in a particle form, the particulate anode material can be further shaped and sintered to agglomerate the particulate anode material. | 06-06-2013 |
20130189602 | MICROSTRUCTURED ELECTRODE STRUCTURES - A structure for use in an energy storage device, the structure comprising a backbone system extending generally perpendicularly from a reference plane, and a population of microstructured anodically active material layers supported by the lateral surfaces of the backbones, each of the microstructured anodically active material layers having a void volume fraction of at least 0.1 and a thickness of at least 1 micrometer. | 07-25-2013 |
20140050969 | ELECTRODE STRUCTURES FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL BATTERIES - An electrode structure for use in an energy storage device comprising a population of electrodes, a population of counter-electrodes and a microporous separator separating members of the electrode population from members of the counter-electrode population. Each member of the electrode population comprises an electrode active material layer and an electrode current conductor layer, and each member of the electrode population has a bottom, a top, a length L | 02-20-2014 |
20140272547 | SEPARATORS FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL BATTERIES - An electrode structure for use in an energy storage device, the electrode structure comprising a population of electrodes, a population of counter-electrodes and an electrically insulating material layer separating members of the electrode population from members of the counter-electrode population, each member of the electrode population having a longitudinal axis A | 09-18-2014 |
20140329132 | MICROSTRUCTURED ELECTRODE STRUCTURES - A structure for use in an energy storage device, the structure comprising a backbone system extending generally perpendicularly from a reference plane, and a population of microstructured anodically active material layers supported by the lateral surfaces of the backbones, each of the microstructured anodically active material layers having a void volume fraction of at least 0.1 and a thickness of at least 1 micrometer. | 11-06-2014 |
20140335395 | IONICALLY PERMEABLE STRUCTURES FOR ENERGY STORAGE DEVICES - An electrochemical stack comprising carrier ions, an anode comprising an anode active material layer, a cathode comprising a cathode active material layer, a separator between the anode and the cathode comprising a porous dielectric material and a non-aqueous electrolyte, and an ionically permeable conductor layer located between the separator and an electrode active material layer. | 11-13-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080201174 | PERSONALIZED MEDICAL ADHERENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Techniques and systems are described hereafter for reducing medical non-adherence by (1) developing the adherence-profile of a member, (2) using the profile to automatically generate a set of interventions, (3) categorizing, prioritizing and selecting the interventions, (4) incorporating the selected interventions into a personalized member user interface page, (5) serving the selected interventions to the member at the appropriate times via multiple channels, (6) observing and measuring member responses, (7) recording member responses in a database and analyzing the responses, (8) adapting the interventions, based on the analysis, to keep the member actively engaged, (9) escalating the interventions if the member response is inadequate, (10) updating the member's adherence profile based on analysis of the database, (11) providing member reports to authorized parties for purposes of paying member incentives, predicting member's utilization of high-cost healthcare services, etc., and (12) providing aggregate de-identified reports for purposes of predicting future risk reserve set asides, drug production and supply chain replenishment requirements. | 08-21-2008 |
20100219097 | UNIFIED INGESTION PACKAGE AND PROCESS FOR PATIENT COMPLIANCE WITH PRESCRIBED MEDICATION REGIMEN - Techniques for reducing non-compliance of medication use are described. The techniques involve generating and storing an identifier for a specific dosage instance of a specific patient, and creating a package that includes a mechanism for conveying the identifier. Once the package is created, a set of one or more medications that are prescribed to be taken by the specific patient at the specific dosage instance are placed in the package. The set of medications within the package in a manner that prevents the identifier from being perceived from the mechanism until the package is opened. Once opened, the identifier is perceived and communicated back to an automated compliance system. | 09-02-2010 |
20140046685 | AUTOMATIC ALERTS BASED ON USER RESPONSE-DOWN TREND LEVELS - A response down-trend level applicable to a user may be determined based on the user's responses to one or more medication reminders. Different levels of the response down-trend may be associated one or more different parties to alert. The particular parties to alert may be determined based upon the current response down-trend level associated with the user. The response-down trend level associated with a user may be determined by calculating a response-down trend value based on the user's responses to one or more medication reminders and comparing the response-down trend value to one or more threshold value of one or more response-down trend levels. In response to determining that a user has reached a particular response-down-trend level, a party associated with the particular response-down-trend level is contacted. | 02-13-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130030887 | CUSTOMER REWARD AND LOYALTY SYSTEM - Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for implementing a customer loyalty rewards program by assigning point values to a customer's completion of certain activities, monitoring the customer's activities to determine when the customer has completed an activity, crediting the customer the assigned value of points for the completed activities, correlating points to one or more rewards and facilitating the exchange of rewards. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030888 | SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING CUSTOMERS TO CHOOSE REWARDS - Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for allowing a customer to choose rewards as part of a customer incentive program by receiving a first customer input, wherein the first customer input is a characteristic of the customer, receiving a second customer input, wherein the second customer input is a category of reward in which the customer is interested, correlating the first customer input to a plurality of activities to be completed by the customer, correlating the second customer input to rewards to be provided to the customer for completing an activity, monitoring the customer's activities to determine when the customer has completed an activity and providing a reward to the customer corresponding to the completed activity. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030925 | CONTEXT-AWARE MOBILE BANKING SOLUTION - A context-aware mobile banking system determines a location of a user of the mobile device, identifies at least one product of interest to the user based at least in part on the determined location of the user, determines based on the determined product of interest, information corresponding to the product of interest, and presents the information corresponding to the product of interest to the user. In some embodiments, the system retrieves user budgeting information including a plurality of budget categories each having an associated budget amount and an associated remaining amount indicating an amount remaining in from the budget amount, determines a budget category from the plurality of budget categories associated with the product of interest, and determines the budget amount and remaining amount associated with the determined budget category. The system then may present information corresponding to the remaining amount and the budget amount to the user. | 01-31-2013 |
20130030994 | BUDGET MONITOR, ALERT, AND BILL PAYMENT FACILITATION SYSTEM - A budget monitoring, alerting and bill payment facilitation system retrieves macro-budgeting information associated with a user, where the macro-budgeting information includes a plurality of budget categories each having an associated budget amount corresponding to a macro time period, divides the budget amount corresponding to the macro time period into a plurality of micro budget amounts corresponding to a plurality of micro time periods, and presents, to the user by a mobile device, micro-budgeting information corresponding to at least one of the plurality of micro budget amounts or its corresponding micro time period. In some embodiments, the system retrieves user data, determines the user may be experiencing a life event based on the user data, where the micro-budgeting information is based on the determination that the user may be experiencing a life event, and confirms that the user is experiencing a life event. | 01-31-2013 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080313496 | Gracefully degradable versioned storage systems - Multiple versions of data on different sets of machines allow a system to degrade gracefully even when experiencing excessive failures. When excessive failures cause the latest versions to be unavailable, the system becomes degraded, but still offers an old version if available. A most recent coherent set of the available older versions is found and provided. The degree of degradation increases gradually as the system experiences more and more failures. Graceful degradation is desirably complementary to fault tolerance. | 12-18-2008 |
20090240719 | ACCUMULATING STAR KNOWLEDGE IN REPLICATED DATA PROTOCOL - A distributed system includes full and partial replicas of a set of data items that may be inserted, modified, or deleted by any replica. Replicas may occasionally synchronize with other arbitrarily chosen replicas to learn about updates. A replica's knowledge includes of one or more knowledge fragments, where each fragment indicates a set of items. A type of knowledge fragment, called a star knowledge fragment, contains versions associated with all items in the system. Star knowledge fragments are compact because the set of items stored at a replica need not be explicitly listed. Once all replicas know of all updates in the system, partial and full replicas will have the same compact star knowledge fragment. | 09-24-2009 |
20110208958 | COMMUNICATING USING A CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE - A cloud infrastructure that communicates with computing devices is provided. The computing devices install filters on other computing devices that they wish to receive items from including pictures, messages, and documents. The filters include criteria that are evaluated on the computing devices, rather than at a server, to determine if an item may be sent to another computing device. The computing devices may then send items that match the criteria to the cloud infrastructure, and the items may be stored and queued for delivery to other computing devices. The items may be encrypted before being provided to the cloud infrastructure, and decrypted when received by the computing devices. | 08-25-2011 |
20130332676 | CACHE AND MEMORY ALLOCATION FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES - In a cloud computing environment, a cache and a memory are partitioned into “colors”. The colors of the cache and the memory are allocated to virtual machines independently of one another. In order to provide cache isolation while allocating the memory and cache in different proportions, some of the colors of the memory are allocated to a virtual machine, but the virtual machine is not permitted to directly access these colors. Instead, when a request is received from the virtual machine for a memory page in one of the non-accessible colors, a hypervisor swaps the requested memory page with a memory page with a color that the virtual machine is permitted to access. The virtual machine is then permitted to access the requested memory page at the new color location. | 12-12-2013 |