Faraday Cages and Bee Washing
FedInvent Report on Patent Applications Published on February 24, 2022
Hello from FedInvent,
This week the US Patent Office published 163 pre-grant patent applications that benefitted from taxpayer funding.
The FedInvent Report for this week’s application is available here. To browse by department, start here.
It's been hard to concentrate on patent applications while watching a war unfold in real-time. As we write today's newsletter, Vlad the Destructor's forces are advancing through Ukraine. The Ukrainians are fighting a valiant fight against the Russians. It is a fight for freedom and democracy. Their bravery and steadfastness are epic.
The kinetic war is playing out on the television and on the internet. The smartphone is proving to be an important weapon letting Ukrainians communicate with each other and communicate with the world. The cellular network appears to be holding so citizens can get their messages out and American and citizen reporters can get the latest news to us.
The NATO Secretary-General stated that a cyber attack on a NATO member could be considered an act of war and trigger Article 5, the "commitment clause." Within this clause, every member of NATO agrees that it will consider an attack against any member state, whether in Europe or North America, is an attack against all 30 members of the organization. NATO has only invoked Article 5 once, on 9/11.
We've been watching for indicators that a cyberwar that may be brewing. The hacktivists from Anonymous are back in action, going after targets in Russia. The US cybersecurity experts are working 24/7 to watch US critical infrastructure. There is an urgent need for more effective cybersecurity capabilities.
New Faraday Security
Among the patent applications we analyzed this week, we found is publication 20220061145, Plasma Field Faraday Cage System. Faraday cages blocking electromagnetic signals and electromagnetic energy from reaching facilities, electronic devices, and electrical equipment are typically solid metal enclosures. Around the Beltway where DOD and the intelligence community live and breathe, these facilities are called Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, SCIFs.
SCIFs are secure rooms and secure data centers that prevent surveillance and suppress electronic data signal leakage. SCIFs are costly, rigid, and unadaptable to changing needs and operating conditions. SCIFs have special doors to provide ingress and egress while maintaining signal-blocking integrity. (It's also easy to trip and spill the latte if you aren't careful entering one of these facilities. SCIFs are not for the claustrophobic.
The inventors at Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies in Kansas City invented a new way to protect entire buildings.
The invention is a plasma field Faraday cage system created by ionized air, lasers, motors, and a control system. The plasma field Faraday cage system blocks unwanted electromagnetic signals from reaching a facility without the use of, or in conjunction with, a solid metal enclosure (SCIF).
(Using both the Faraday cage system and a solid metal enclosure is belt and suspenders security.)
The National Nuclear Security Administration is a federal agency responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science. The NNSA Kansas City facility where this invention originated is responsible for manufacturing and procuring nonnuclear components for nuclear weapons, including electronic, mechanical, and engineered material components. Honeywell Federal operates the NNSA Kansas City facility under contract to the Department of Energy.
And you thought those James Bond movies with all the lasers were just entertainment.
(You can learn more about what NNSA does here and its work with other National Labs here.)
There are other interesting inventions among this week's published patent applications.
Bee Washing
A bee washing system washes worker bees and filters out Varro mites — varroa destructors. (20220053738)
Varroa destructor (V destructor) is an external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on the honey bees. The disease caused by the mites is called varroosis. The Varroa mite can reproduce only in a honey bee colony. It attaches to the body of the bee and weakens the bee by sucking fat bodies. Varroa mites are so common that they can be found in nearly every hive in the United States.
The inventors from USDA created a way to help beekeepers estimate the extent of a V destructor infestation in the hive. Beekeepers need an accurate, standardized count of the number of varroa mites infecting the bees.
The inventors have made an improvement on the sugar roll technique. Sugar rolls are a non-lethal way to determine the varroa mite infestation rate on a subset of the adult bees within a colony. Test results allow you to compare the infestation rate with published thresholds and make decisions about whether or not treatment is warranted. Here is how it works.
In the "sugar roll" process, confectioner's sugar is used as the wash material. After being coated with the sugar, the bees naturally shake and clean the sugar from their bodies and, in the process, dislodge varroa mites. The spent confectioner's sugar and the dislodged mites collect on the upper surface of the fine mesh filter. The beekeeper then detaches the wash material section and pours water on the sugar with entrained mites--which dissolves the sugar and leaves the mites visible on the upper surface of the fine mesh filter. In dissolved sugar form, the spent wash material collects in the bottom of the wash section of the bee washing system. The beekeeper can then see and count the mites on the upper surface of the fine filter in the device.
More Surveillance Technology
Back in September, we wrote about the Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) plans to introduce advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology into new vehicles sold in the US. The technology uses sensors that operate like a breathalyzer. If the technology determines you are impaired, it locks the ignition in your vehicle. Implementing this technology is now the law. (You can read our original post here.)
Inventors from the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS), the industry group funded by the DOT and the automotive industry, have added a new patent application to their intellectual property pipeline.
First, we're not fans of drunk driving or any impaired driving in the age of decriminalizing pot. But the introduction of government surveillance technology in every new car seems problematic on many levels.
In this latest patent application, the surveillance technology starts even earlier in the start-your-car process.
The breath testing system is started by a wireless door key to unlock the vehicle doors by opening the door to the driver's seat or any other indicator capable of signaling that a driver has entered a vehicle. As the driver takes the first steps towards entering the driver seat of the vehicle, the sensors turn on to monitor the testing conditions within the vehicle, the detection of a driver's breath, and to begin a timer to check whether a driver's breath has been detected within a time limit during testing. If a driver's breath is detected, the testing conditions within the vehicle are normal, and the time limit has not been exceeded sensors will measure the Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) from a passive breath sample in the car. If the sensor decides the driver is trying to subvert the system, you will need to provide a direct breath sample if they want to be able to start the vehicle.
So if you unlock your car, open the door to pop the trunk to stow the groceries, the timer is running. If you stop to chat with your neighbor, the timer is running. If you walk over to put the cart back, the timer is running. If the timer expires, now you need to blow directly into the sensor to start your car. (I guess this means the automatic car starter business is done.)
Wait, there's more. There's a camera spying on you too.
A camera sensor to monitor driver behavior may also be placed near the driver, such as close to a steering wheel column. This camera sensor may detect the position of a driver's head with respect to the tracer gas detection sensor. The relation between the driver's head and the tracer gas detection sensor may determine if the driver is breathing in the direction of the tracer gas detection sensor. In addition, the camera may detect if the driver is attempting to avoid detection by facing away from the sensor. (How does it do that? Facial recognition? Sending the images to the Help Desk?)
The camera sensor may also detect the presence of unfamiliar objects near the driver's face. These unfamiliar objects can include a mask, filter, spray bottle, or other object meant to interfere with the tracer gas detection sensor. The camera may be used to prevent the driver from supplying an alternate source of "breath" to prevent an accurate passive breath test. The camera sensor may also detect the position of passengers, which may make it difficult to distinguish between the passenger's BrAC level and the driver's BrAC level. (So you'll have to take your mask off before you can start your car?)
The sensors continuously measure air samples after starting. So the sensors are on all the time. So we're curious how this system will work when your car is barreling down the New Jersey Turnpike at 65 miles an hour when the sensors suddenly decide that you are impaired? Will it turn off your engine? Will it notify the State Troopers? What could go wrong?
There are 228.2 million licensed drivers in the United States. How will they feel about having surveillance technology in their vehicle? Most of the people driving in the US are not drunk. This thing is also a personal data capturing machine. Will this invention help throw privacy out the window?
This is an innovation to watch.
Bayh-Dole Scofflaws
This week, there is one Bayh-Dole scofflaw, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. The Marasco Laboratory, run by the inventor Dr. Wayne A. Marasco, has advanced therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (Mab or sometimes mAB) development through NIH-NIAID product development programs in the areas of SARS, West Nile virus, and Influenza A infections. We'll count this one as funded by NIH. (20220054624)
Applications By The Numbers
On Thursday, February 24, 2022, the US Patent Office published 20220054624 pre-grant patent applications. One hundred sixty-three (163) benefitted from taxpayer funding. Here is how Thursday's patent applications break down.
One hundred fifty-seven (157) patent applications have Government Interest Statements.
Thirty-three (33) applications have an applicant or an assignee that is a government agency.
A federal department is the only assignee on ten patent applications.
The 163 new patent applications have 184 department-level funding citations.
These applications are the work of 573 inventors.
The 545 American inventors come from 40 states and the District of Columbia.
The twenty-eight (28) foreign inventors come from 15 countries.
There are 104 patent applications (64%) where at least one assignee is a college or university, the HERD.
Ten patent applications (10) resulted from the collaboration between two or more universities.
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) received 16 patent applications. This week included
Three (3) patent application is assigned a Y CPC symbol indicating that the invention may be useful in mitigating the impact of climate change.
The Big Three States
California held the number one position. Massachusetts is in the number two slot. On Thursday the third-place position went to New York.
Count By Department
The Health Complex
The table below shows this week's count of the number of funding citations on new pre-grant published patent applications where the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the institutes at the National Institutes of Health, and other subagencies that are part of HHS, funded the inventor's research.
The Health Complex Year-To-Date
The table below is the year-to-date count for taxpayer-funded published pre-grant patent applications that are part of the Health Complex.
Before We Go
We’re hoping to get more work done this week if we don’t get distracted by the situation in Ukraine, and the pending arrival of the truckers intending to gridlock the Beltway around Washington before the State of the Union address.
We'll be back later this week when the latest reporting on taxpayer-funded patents is released.
The FedInvent Team
FedInvent tells the stories of inventors, investigators, and innovators. Wayfinder Digital's FedInvent Project follows the federal innovation ecosphere, taxpayer money, and the inventions it pays for. FedInvent is a work in progress. Please reach out if you have questions or suggestions. You can reach us at info@wayfinder.digital.