Author: claimsbot

1. A vehicle comprising:
a frame;
an internal combustion engine supported with respect to the frame;
a radiator supported with respect to the frame, the radiator being operable for receiving fresh air and for expelling heated air;
a support assembly;
a control module comprising electronic components, the control module being supported with respect to the frame by the support assembly; and
a heat guard supported with respect to the frame, at least a portion of the heat guard positioned between, adjacent to, and spaced from the radiator and the control module such that the heat guard operably deflects at least a portion of the heated air expelled by the radiator from contacting the control module; wherein
the heat guard comprises a first surface, a second surface, a first lip portion, a second lip portion and a ducting portion;
at least a portion of the first surface has a convex shape, faces the radiator and is spaced from the radiator;
at least a portion of the second surface has a concave shape, faces the control module and is spaced from the control module; and
the first lip portion extends forwardly and away from the control module, the ducting portion is curved and connects the first lip portion with the second lip portion, and the second lip portion extends downwardly and away from the support assembly and the control module, such that the first lip portion operably receives fresh air for passage between the heat guard and the radiator to assist in cooling the heat guard, and the ducting portion and the second lip portion operably cooperate to direct air downwardly and away from the radiator and the control module.
2. The vehicle of claim 1 comprising a saddle-type vehicle.
3. The vehicle of claim 2 comprising a motorcycle.
4. The vehicle of claim 2 comprising an all terrain vehicle.
5. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the control module comprises an engine control unit for the internal combustion engine.
6. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first lip portion defines a first end of the heat guard and the second lip portion defines a second end of the heat guard.
7. The vehicle of claim 6 wherein the second lip portion of the heat guard is located adjacent to the support assembly.
8. A vehicle comprising:
a frame;
a radiator supported with respect to the frame;
a support assembly;
a control module comprising electronic components, the control module being supported with respect to the frame by the support assembly; and
a heat guard supported with respect to the frame, at least a portion of the heat guard being disposed in a location adjacent to and between the radiator and the control module, the heat guard comprising a first surface and a second surface; wherein
at least a portion of the first surface has a convex shape, faces the radiator and is spaced from the radiator;
at least a portion of the second surface has a concave shape, faces the control module and is spaced from the control module;
the heat guard further comprises a first lip portion, a second lip portion and a ducting portion; and
the first lip portion extends forwardly and away from the control module, the ducting portion is curved and connects the first lip portion with the second lip portion, and the second lip portion extends downwardly and away from the support assembly and the control module, such that the first lip portion operably receives fresh air for passage over at least one of the first surface and the second surface for cooling of the heat guard to reduce radiation of heat from the heat guard to the control module, and the ducting portion and the second lip portion operably cooperate to direct air downwardly and away from the radiator and the control module.
9. The vehicle of claim 8 comprising a saddle-type vehicle.
10. The vehicle of claim 9 comprising a motorcycle.
11. The vehicle of claim 9 comprising an all terrain vehicle.
12. The vehicle of claim 8 further comprising an internal combustion engine supported with respect to the frame, wherein the control module comprises an engine control unit for the internal combustion engine.
13. The vehicle of claim 8 wherein the first lip portion defines a first end of the heat guard and the second lip portion defines a second end of the heat guard.
14. The vehicle of claim 13 wherein the second lip portion of the heat guard is located adjacent to the support assembly.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A stand for securing motorcycles and motorized scooters, comprising:
a housing;
a shaft rotationally disposed within the housing, the shaft configured to translate vertically along a longitudinal axis thereof;
an arm extending from the shaft, the arm configured to transition between a locked and an unlocked positions, the arm having an arch adapted to surmount a body of a motorcycle or a scooter when the arm is in the locked position; and
a locking mechanism disposed within the housing, the locking mechanism configured to retain the arm in the locked position by engaging the shaft and restricting vertical translation thereof;
a fence at least partially enclosing a space where the motorcycle or the scooter is to be placed;
a gate pivotally attached to the fence, the gate configured to open and close, whereby the gate prevents the motorcycle or the scooter from being rolled out from the at least partially enclosed space when the gate is closed; and
the gate being configured to open and close in response to rotation of the shaft.
2. The stand according to claim 1, further comprising:
the locking mechanism having a locking member; and
the shaft having a plurality of notches, the notches adapted to receive the locking member, whereby the shaft is restrained from vertical movement when the locking member engages at least one of the notches.
3. The stand according to claim 1, further comprising:
the locking mechanism being configured to release the shaft in response to authenticating a user, whereby an authentication means is selected from the group consisting of a mechanical key, an infrared ray scanning, a radio frequency identification, an alphanumerical code, an electronic code, and combinations thereof.
4. The stand according to claim 1, further comprising:
the housing having a shoulder, the shoulder containing a slot; and
a finger protruding from the shaft, the finger resting on the shoulder when the arm is in the unlocked position, whereby the finger must be aligned with the slot to transition the arm from the unlocked position into the locked position.
5. The stand according to claim 4, further comprising:
the shoulder having a sloped surface, the sloped surface configured to facilitate rotation of the shaft by urging the finger to slide downward along the sloped surface.
6. The stand according to claim 1, further comprising:
a damper disposed within the housing, the damper configured to reduce a rate of downward vertical translation of the shaft.
7. The stand according to claim 1, further comprising:
a displacement mechanism for facilitating vertical translation of the shaft disposed within the housing.
8. The stand according to claim 7, further comprising:
the displacement mechanism for facilitating vertical translation of the shaft being selected from the group consisting of a spring, a cable-pulley system, a hydraulic system, a pneumatic system, a gear system, an electric motor, and combinations thereof.
9. A stand for securing motorcycles and motorized scooters, comprising:
a housing having a shoulder, the shoulder containing a slot;
a shaft rotationally disposed within the housing, the shaft configured to translate vertically along a longitudinal axis thereof;
an arm extending from the shaft, the arm configured to transition between a locked and an unlocked positions, the arm having an arch adapted to surmount a body of a motorcycle or a scooter when the arm is in the locked position;
a finger protruding from the shaft, the finger resting on the shoulder when the arm is in the unlocked position, whereby the finger must be aligned with the slot to transition the arm from the unlocked position into the locked position; and
a locking mechanism disposed within the housing, the locking mechanism configured to retain the arm in the locked position by engaging the shaft and restricting vertical translation thereof.
10. The stand according to claim 9, further comprising:
a fence at least partially enclosing a space where the motorcycle or the scooter is to be placed; and
a gate pivotally attached to the fence, the gate configured to open and close, whereby the gate prevents the motorcycle or the scooter from being rolled out from the at least partially enclosed space when the gate is closed.
11. The stand according to claim 10, further comprising:
the gate being configured to open and close in response to rotation of the shaft.
12. The stand according to claim 9, further comprising:
the locking mechanism having a locking member; and
the shaft having a plurality of notches, the notches adapted to receive the locking member, whereby the shaft is restrained from vertical movement when the locking member engages at least one of the notches.
13. The stand according to claim 9, further comprising:
the locking mechanism being configured to release the shaft in response to authenticating a user, whereby an authentication means is selected from the group consisting of a mechanical key, an infrared ray scanning, a radio frequency identification, an alphanumerical code, an electronic code, and combinations thereof.
14. The stand according to claim 9, further comprising:
the shoulder having a sloped surface, the sloped surface configured to facilitate rotation of the shaft by urging the finger to slide downward along the sloped surface.
15. The stand according to claim 9, further comprising:
a damper disposed within the housing, the damper configured to reduce a rate of downward vertical translation of the shaft.
16. The stand according to claim 9, further comprising:
a displacement mechanism for facilitating vertical translation of the shaft disposed within the housing.
17. The stand according to claim 16, further comprising:
the displacement mechanism for facilitating vertical translation of the shaft being selected from the group consisting of a spring, a cable-pulley system, a hydraulic system, a pneumatic system, a gear system, an electric motor, and combinations thereof.

1. A method for diagnosing ignition system performance of an internal combustion engine having a plurality of spark plugs; a plurality of ignition coils, each one having a secondary winding coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of spark plugs, each one of the plurality of ignition coils having a primary winding; and an engine control unit, such method comprising:
operating the engine control unit to produce a sequence of spark ignition current pulses through the primary winding of the plurality of ignition coils, such current pulses producing voltage pulses across electrodes of the spark plugs, such voltage pulses producing sparks across the electrodes of the spark plugs and flyback voltages across the primary windings;
producing, in response to the flyback voltages, digital signals representative of the time durations of the sparks; and
comparing the digital signals to determine whether the spark time duration of one of the spark plugs is substantially different from the spark time durations of the other ones of the plurality of spark plugs.
2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the time duration is the time between the rise of the initial breakdown voltage, through the sustaining voltage, to the falling edge of the sustaining voltage.
3. A method for diagnosing ignition system performance of an internal combustion engine having a plurality of spark plugs; a plurality of ignition coils, each one having a secondary winding coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of spark plugs, each one of the plurality of ignition coils having a primary winding; and an engine control unit, such method comprising:
operating the engine control unit to produce a sequence of spark ignition current pulses through the primary winding of the plurality of ignition coils, such current pulses producing voltage pulses across electrodes of the spark plugs, such voltage pulses producing sparks across the electrodes of the spark plugs and flyback voltages across the primary windings;
producing, in response to the flyback voltages, output pulses having time durations related to the time durations of the sparks produced across the electrodes of the spark plugs;
producing, in response to each one of the output pulses, a digital signal representative of the spark time duration of a corresponding one of the sparks produced across the electrodes of the corresponding one of the spark plugs; and
comparing the digital signals to determine whether the spark time duration of one of the spark plugs is substantially different from the spark time durations of the other ones of the plurality of spark plugs.
4. The method recited in claim 3 wherein the time duration is the time between the rise of the initial breakdown voltage, through the sustaining voltage, to the falling edge of the sustaining voltage.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A computer-implemented method of providing incentive information, comprising:
receiving, at a network server, an access request from a device associated with a user;
transmitting from the network server, to an incentive host server, a first identifier associated with the access request and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
receiving at the network server, from the incentive host server, incentive information corresponding to one or more available incentives, wherein the one or more available incentives were determined based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmitting from the network server, to the device, the incentive information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the access request from the device, includes:
receiving a request for a document stored at least in part on the network server.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the document comprises a web page.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining whether the user has subscribed to receive the incentive information.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the user has subscribed, includes:
transmitting from the network server, to the device, a subscriber request; and
receiving at the network server, from the device, a response including the first identifier.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the device associated with the user.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the user.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting from the network server, to the device, the incentive information, comprises:
generating a document including the incentive information; and
transmitting from the network server, to the device, the document.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the document comprises a web page.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
15. A system for providing incentive information, comprising:
a network server, the network server comprising a processor configured to:
receive an access request from a device associated with a user;
transmit, to an incentive host server, a first identifier associated with the access request and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
receive, from the incentive host server, incentive information corresponding to one or more available incentives, wherein the one or more available incentives were determined based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmit, to the device, the incentive information.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the access request comprises a request for a document stored at least in part on the network server.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the document comprises a web page.
18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine whether the user has subscribed to receive the incentive information.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein, to determine whether the user has subscribed, the processor is further configured to:
transmit from the network server, to the device, a subscriber request; and
receive at the network server, from the device, a response including the first identifier.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
21. The system of claim 15, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the device associated with the user.
22. The system of claim 15, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the user.
23. The system of claim 15, wherein the first identifier comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
24. The system of claim 15, wherein to transmit from the network server, to the device, the incentive information, the processor is configured to:
generate a document including the incentive information; and
transmit from the network server, to the device, the document.
25. The system of claim 24, wherein the document comprises a web page.
26. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
27. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
28. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
29. A computer-implemented method of providing incentive information, comprising:
receiving, at an incentive host server, a request from a network server including a first identifier and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
determining, at the incentive host server, one or more available incentives based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the network server, incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
storing incentives in a repository associated with the incentive host server.
31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
receiving at the incentive host server, from a device associated with a user, a request to create an account;
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account;
receiving at the incentive host server, from the device, information to create an account in response to the transmitted request;
creating an account for the user;
determining a unique identifier to be associated with the created account; and
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, the unique identifier to be stored on the device.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account, further comprises:
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a registration form.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein receiving at the incentive host server, from the device, information to create an account in response to the transmitted request further comprises:
receiving at the incentive host server, from the device, information in response to the transmitted registration form.
34. The method of claim 31, wherein the account includes demographic information corresponding to the user.
35. The method of claim 31, wherein the account includes personal information corresponding to the user.
36. The method of claim 29, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a user.
37. The method of claim 29, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
38. The method of claim 29, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a device associated with the user.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
40. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
transmitting from the incentive host server, to a user device associated with the first identifier, the incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
41. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
42. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
43. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
44. A system for providing incentive information, comprising:
an incentive host server, the incentive host server comprising a processor configured to:
receive a request from a network server including a first identifier and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
determine one or more available incentives based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmit, to the network server, incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
45. The system of claim 44, further comprising:
a repository associated with the incentive host server for storing incentives.
46. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive at the incentive host server, from a device associated with a user, a request to create an account;
transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account;
receive at the incentive host server, from the device, information to create an account in response to the transmitted request;
create an account for the user;
determine a unique identifier to be associated with the created account; and
transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, the unique identifier to be stored on the device.
47. The system of claim 46, wherein, to transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account, the processor is further configured to:
transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, a registration form.
48. The system of claim 47, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive at the incentive host server, from the device, information in response to the transmitted registration form.
49. The system of claim 46, wherein the account includes demographic information corresponding to the user.
50. The system of claim 46, wherein the account includes personal information corresponding to the user.
51. The system of claim 44, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a user.
52. The system of claim 44, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
53. The system of claim 44, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a device associated with the user.
54. The system of claim 53, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
55. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit from the incentive host server, to a user device associated with the first identifier, the incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
56. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
57. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
58. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
59. A computer-implemented method of providing incentive information, comprising:
receiving, at an incentive host server, registration information from a device associated with a user;
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a Unique ID (UID);
receiving at the incentive host server, from a network server of a plurality of network servers, a request for incentives, the request for incentives including an associated UID and network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
determining, at the incentive host server, one or more available incentives based at least on the UID and the NID; and
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.