Patent Strategizing: The First Steps

Mide works a lot with our patent lawyer Kirk Teska as we look to protect our intellectual property that emerges from one of our many research, development, and engineering programs. I've personally worked with him on a few patent applications and can attest that he knows his stuff!  

Kirk has kindly agreed to share this article he recently wrote where he discusses how one should go about patent strategizing to save time and potentially money. Hopefully, his insight can be of some help as you look to protect the exciting intellectual property you've developed!

Patents are important but expensive – one survey reveals a single patent application can cost around $10,000. Getting the patent to issue can cost twice that.  And so, clients regularly seek new strategies to lower patent legal costs. Here is one we at ITC call Claim Focused Strategizing.

What's going on in the world of SBIR and STTR Grants?

We often make assumptions that companies and the public sector folks that are involved in the SBIR/STTR solicitation and grant process are familiar with all aspects of the program.  Then you talk to a peer in another company, or meet with a government representative or come across information on the web and realize, “I didn’t know that, or they didn’t know that, wow”.

However, as you consider the breadth of the program and the numerous entities involved, it really is no surprise that beyond one’s direct area of involvement there is much to learn.

The Fundamentals of Motion Control System [Infographic]

Machine automation is entering an era of rapid changes and technological advances, enabling businesses to improve their production efficiency, lower the operational costs, and boost their bottom line.

The motion control system is widely used in various industries in order to develop automated systems. This system encompasses a broad range of components that control motion sequences, enabling the engineering team to control the precise speed, the position, and the torque of the system.

Ever wonder how a fighter jet builds up enough thrust to clear the short runway on an aircraft carrier?

Acquiring vibration data is only part of the challenge of vibration measurement; the other part is the analysis of the data acquired. It’s important to understand the types of waveforms associated with vibration analysis, the important differences between them and when it is appropriate to use each type of vibration analysis tool. Here’s a quick overview of some of the basics.

This blog will discuss and compare several different ways to analyze your vibration data. And for a deeper dive, read our handbook on Vibration Measurements.

Accelerometers are widely used to monitor vibration in aerospace, automotive and manufacturing applications. Mechanical engineers often use them to diagnose problems with rotating equipment or assess the stability of structures that are subject to periodic stresses (such as monitoring the vibrations caused by trains/trucks crossing bridges, etc.) They are also often used in monitoring for condition-based maintenance, allowing engineers to examine the vibrations produced by a piece of equipment to assess its health, and monitoring the stresses sensitive equipment undergoes during transportation.

This blog will discuss and compare several different accelerometer types that can be used for vibration measurement. And for a deeper dive, read our handbook on Vibration Measurements.

Light sensors seem pretty simple. They sense the light, just like a thermometer senses the temperature, and a speedometer senses speed. Temperature and speed are easy to comprehend because we sense them in a straight-forward way. But light is very complicated. Temperature and speed are intensive properties, so they don’t depend on the mass or size of an object.  Light can be measured as an extensive property, meaning the total light collected depends on the size of the collector (e.g. a landfill solar array collects more light than a tiny solar phone charger), or intensively by dividing by the area.

But what are light sensors even measuring? Photons? Energy? It’s complicated. The units are important to understand before attempting to understand light sensors.