Patents Pending

UCI's licensing officers help campus researchers protect their inventions

They call it “the baby monitor,” but it’s nothing like the ones sold at Babies “R” Us that alert parents when junior’s crying in his crib.

Developed by UC Irvine pediatrics professor Dr. Dan Cooper, the sophisticated wireless device can detect subtle movements in infants that signal increased risk of cerebral palsy, autism and other neurological disorders. It’s outfitted with a sensor created by Pai Chou, UCI associate professor of electrical engineering & computer science, and it has a special application to warn of sudden infant death syndrome.

The baby monitor and sensor are just two of many important inventions conceived at UCI. The campus holds 316 active U.S. patents and 360 foreign ones for ideas and products that do everything from quieting jet noise (Dimitri Papamoschou’s Mach Wave Elimination) to restoring hearing (Fan-Gang Zeng’s cochlear implants).



And, no matter which lab or department they originate from, all fall under the careful eye of UCI’s Office of Technology Alliances. The OTA handles the patenting and licensing of the campus’s intellectual property. It helps UCI employees – primarily faculty and graduate students – protect and market their ideas.



Read More >>