[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 168 (Wednesday, August 29, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 45685]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21780]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Notice,

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SUMMARY: The inventions listed below are owned by agencies of the U.S. 
Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent 
applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage 
for companies and may also be available for licensing.

ADDRESSES: Licensing information and copies of the U.S. patent 
applications listed below may be obtained by contacting Dale D. 
Berkley, Ph.D., J.D., at the Office of Technology Transfer, National 
Institutes of Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852-3804; telephone: 301/496-7735 ext. 223; fax: 301/402-
0220; e-mail: [email protected]. A signed Confidential Disclosure 
Agreement will be required to receive copies of the patent 
applications.

Generalized MRI Artifact Reduction Using Array Processing Method

Peter Kellman, Elliott McVeigh (NHLBI)
DHHS Reference No. E-198-00/0 filed 03 Apr 2001

    The invention is a phased array combining method for reducing 
artifacts in Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging. The method uses a 
constrained optimization that optimizes signal-to-noise subject to the 
constraint of nulling ghost artifacts at known locations. The method is 
effective in reducing or canceling artifacts that arise in a wide 
variety of MR applications, including ghost artifacts from echo planar 
imaging and Gradient Recalled Echo with Echo Train (FGRE-ET) imaging 
used in cardiac or other rapid imaging applications. The strategy of 
using phase encode acquisition orders with distortion that results in 
ghosts, followed by applying this phased array ghost cancellation 
method has a number of benefits, including reduced blur and geometric 
distortion, reduced acquisition time (eliminating echo shifting), and 
reduced sensitivity to flow.

E-Portals in Commerce (E-PIC)

Diana V. Mukitarian (OD)
DHHS Reference No. E-147-00/0

    The invention is a consolidated database for storing and 
maintaining vendor contact information and contract services that each 
can offer. The purpose of the invention is to consolidate vendor 
sources into one database, enabling vendors to easily add and update 
their contact information, to provide a variety of search criteria for 
providing sources for an organization's acquisitions, and to make such 
a system user friendly and available to the organization 
administrators. The system serves as a gateway for the business 
community to gain access to the organization's contracts and allows the 
organization to follow the acquisition cycle at every step. The 
database is designed to serve as a center for all communication for any 
service vendor seeking to do business with the organization. At any 
time an administrator can visit the repository to look for approved 
contractors and review their performance on past projects, with the 
intention of seeking proposals for work via an automated process. For 
more information, please direct your web browser to http://sbo.od.nih.gov/epicfactsheet.pdf.

    Dated: August 20, 2001.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 01-21780 Filed 8-28-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P