Intellectual Property

[Illustration: Alona Horkova/istockphoto]

[Image: Foryou13/istockphoto]

Fluor Technologies Corp. of Irving has received a newly granted for systems that use idle offshore platforms to grow and harvest seaweed. The design repurposes non-producing rigs as ocean farms, with subsea support structures that enable large-scale seaweed cultivation and automated harvesting. The patent was invented by Aditya Hariharan of Katy, along with Houston-based inventors James Shih and Phillip Nguyen. [Composite illustration: Sources, USPTO Patent #12433213, Fig. 1; DI Studio]

Textron has received a newly granted patent for a cloaking system that makes aircraft blend into their surroundings. The technology (USPTO #12366432) uses onboard cameras to detect nearby colors during flight and activates electroluminescent paint to match, allowing the aircraft to dynamically fade into its environment. The patent was invented by Adam S. Menard of Aledo and is assigned to Textron Innovations Inc. of Providence. [Composite illustration: Sources, USPTO Patent #12366432, Fig. 1; DI Studio]