Patent Patrol: 21 July 2010

Middle Tennessee

Bonded Filter Company of Nashville received U.S. Patent No. 7,758,667, entitled "Flexible size adjustable filter element" invented by Matthew P. Ashwood of Brentwood and David M. Kent of Portland.

• ZymoGenetics, LLC of Nashville received U.S. Patent No. 7,759,092, entitled "Production and purification of IL-29" invented by Bruce L. Zamost of Seattle, Wash., and Robert M. Dedinsky of Shoreline, Wash.
• Esoterix, Inc. of Brentwood received U.S. Patent No. 7,759,076, entitled "Quantitative ZAP-70 assay" invented by Keith E. Shults of Nolensville, Angel L. Flye of Chapel Hill, Leigh Ann Hobbs of Brentwood, and David Miller of Brentwood.
• Steven Miller Gilkeson of Brentwood is the sole named inventor on U.S. Patent No. D619,804, entitled "Tactical knife pocket."

Other patents naming inventors from Middle Tennessee:

• U.S. Patent No. RE41,450, entitled "Method and apparatus for selectively sharing and passively tracking communication device experiences" invented by Darren P. Briggs of Nashville, Brady O. Bruce of San Francisco, Cal., Michael W. Mitchell of Santa Cruz, Cal., and Emile L. Reed, IV of Denver, Colo. and assigned to Tena Technology, LLC of Wilmington, Del.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,761,851, entitled "Computer method and system for integrating software development and deployment" invented by Malcolm D. Thomas of Franklin, Don T. Bailey of Arlington, Tex., Stephen L. Hunt of Indianapolis, Ind., Kartik T. Kanakasabesan of Markham, Cal., and Stephen D. Seifert of Marshall, Mich., and assigned to International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,761,323, entitled "Method and system for scheduling a customer service callback" invented by John Rafter of Nashville, Donald C. Lewis of Bell Buckle, Jerry David Rawle of Hendersonville, Mark Irwin of Spring Hill, and Suzanne Artemieff of Harvard, Mass. and assigned to Aspect Software, Inc. of Lombard, Ill.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,760,195, entitled "Writing instrument that calculates grade" invented by Rebecca Byler of Hendersonville, Daniel Lee Bizzell of Davidson, N.C., Ian D. Kovacevich of Charlotte, N.C., Jerry Shew of Charlotte, N.C. and Paula Bestemer of Charlotte, N.C. and assigned to Edison Nation, LLC of Charlotte, N.C.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,414, entitled "Nanoparticulate solar control compositions" invented by Richard A. Hayes of Brentwood, Thomas R. Phillips of Vienna, W.Va., and Lee A. Silverman of Newark, Del., and assigned to E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Del.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,502, entitled "Slide and snap clamp" invented by Burns Phillips of Nashville and Larry Griffith of Lakeville, Minn., and assigned to Boss Instruments, Ltd. Of Earlysville, Va.

East Tennessee

UT-Battelle, LLC of Oak Ridge received three patents:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,713, entitled "Ferroelectric tunneling element and memory applications which utilize the tunneling element" invented by Sergei V. Kalinin of Knoxville, Hans M. Christen of Knoxville, Arthur P. Baddorf of Knoxville, Vincent Meunier of Knoxville, and Ho Nyung Lee of Oak Ridge.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,057, entitled "Method for analyzing microbial communities" invented by Jizhong Zhou of Oak Ridge and Liyou Wu of Oak Ridge.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,757,508, entitled "Super energy saver heat pump with dynamic hybrid phase change material" invented by Moonis Raza Ally of Oak Ridge, John Jager Tomlinson of Knoxville, and Clifford Keith Rice of Clinton.

Eastman Chemical Company of Kingsport received U.S. Patent No. 7,759,516, entitled "Versatile oxidation byproduct purge process" invented by Phillip Edward Gibson of Kingsport and Kenny Randolph Parker of Afton.

• Life Changing Chair, LLC of Rogersville received U.S. Patent No. 7,758,063, entitled "Stabilized mobile unit or wheelchair" invented by Charles E. Johnson of Rogersville and Phillip N. Brown of Rogersville.
• Oak Ridge company Worldwide Energy, Inc. of Delaware received U.S. Patent No. 7,758,993, entitled "Tubular solid oxide fuel cell current collector" invented by Brian L. Bischoff of Knoxville, Theodore G. Sutton of Kingston, and Timothy R. Armstrong of Clinton.

Other patents naming East Tennessee inventors:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,760,665, entitled "Selective node tracking" invented by Brian Seal of Powell, Ruben Salazar Cardozo of Alpharetta, Ga., Rahman Abderrahman of Duluth, Ga., John Bettendorff of San Francisco, Cal., and assigned to Cellnet Technology, Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,685, entitled "Multifaced microdevice system array" invented by John D. G. Rather of Oak Ridge and Gregory W. Auner of Livonia, Mich.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,648, entitled "Magnetically retained interchangeable collimators for scintillation cameras" invented by Robert A Mintzer of Knoxville, Stefan B. Siegel of Knoxville, Derek W. Austin of Knoxville, Casey Barrett Holbrook of Knoxville and assigned to Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. of Malvern, Pa.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,647, entitled "PET imaging system with APD-based PET detectors and three-dimensional positron-confining magnetic field" invented by Ron Grazioso of Knoxville and Mehmet Aykac of Knoxville and assigned to Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. of Malvern, Pa.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,759,639, entitled "Electrospray depositing system for biological materials" invented by Marianne F. Brannon of Gray, Rudiger Schlaf of Tampa, Fla., Daniel V. Lim of Tampa, Fla., Anthony J. Cascio of Land O'Lakes, Fla., and assigned to University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,829, entitled "Process for promoting mercury retention in wet flue gas desulfurization systems" invented by Donald C. Borio of Knoxville and assigned to ALSTOM Technology Ltd of Baden, China.

West Tennessee

Smith & Nephew, Inc. of Memphis received three patents:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,650, entitled "Modular humeral prosthesis and method" invented by Dean Hughes of Cordova, Abraham Salehi of Bartlett, Jeff Sprague of Cordova, and Paul M. Dews of Sherwood Park, Cal.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,582, entitled "Device and methods for placing external fixation elements" invented by Joseph Ferrante of Bartlett, Gene Edward Austin of Bartlett, and Anthony James of Bartlett.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,642, entitled "Sheaths for implantable fixation devices" invented by Raymond A. Bojarski of Attleboro, Mass., Paul Alexander Torrie of Marblehead, Mass., Fraser Harvie of East Kilbride, Gr. Brit., and Steven W. Ek of Bolton, Mass.

Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc. received four patents:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,648, entitled "Stabilized, adjustable expandable implant and method" invented by David W. Castleman of Germantown and Eric S. Heinz of Memphis.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,644, entitled "Systems and techniques for intravertebral spinal stabilization with expandable devices" invented by Hai H. Trieu of Cordova.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,274, entitled "Quick attachment apparatus for use in association with orthopedic instrumentation and tools" invented by Marc T. Paul of Memphis.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,583, entitled "Surgical instrument and method of use for facilitating positioning of an osteochondral plug" invented by Carlos E. Gil of Collierville, Jeetendra Subhash Bharadwaj of Memphis, and Michael Allen Dupree of Munford.

Medtronic, Inc. received U.S. Patent No. 7,758,521, entitled "Methods and systems for accessing the pericardial space" invented by Michael E. Leckrone of Collierville, Mary M. Morris of Mounds View, Minn., Kenneth C. Gardeski of Plymouth, Minn., and Michael R. Ujhelyi of Maple Grove, Minn.

• DIGICOR LLC of Germantown received U.S. Patent No. 7,757,938, entitled "Image exchange without full MICR qualification" invented by Joseph L. Richardson of Germantown and Joseph M. Rowell of Memphis.
• International Paper of Memphis received U.S. Patent No. 7,757,860, entitled "Multi-product container and container blank" invented by Nicholas A. Phillips of Sugar Grove, Ill.
• Robert Lovett of Finger is the sole named inventor on U.S. Patent No. 7,757,428, entitled "Pneumatic activated device for rodent control."

Other patents naming West Tennessee inventors:

• U.S. Patent No. 7,758,723, entitled "Processes for foreshortening fibrous structures" invented by Kenneth Douglas Vinson of Toone, John Allen Manifold of Milan, Ind., Michael Scott Prodoehl of West Chester, Ohio, Jonathan Andrew Ficke of Norwich, N.Y., and James Edwin Cartledge, Jr. of Liberty Township, Ohio and assigned to The Procter + Gamble Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
• U.S. Patent No. 7,757,347, entitled "Drapery carrier and method of assembly into a track" invented by Joe D. Wicker of Bartlett and assigned to Yu-Ting Kao of Yong Kang, Taiwan.