Ocean Tomo Celebrates New Houston Office with Unique Tech Talk Tour from Opening Day at Minute Maid Park

Chicago, IL (Vocus/PRWEB) April 08, 2011

Ocean Tomo, LLC, the leading intellectual capital merchant banc™ firm, officially announced the opening of a full service office in Houston, Texas today by hosting a behind-the-scenes tech talk tour at Minute Maid Park. Ocean Tomo's Houston office provides financial products and services related to intellectual property including expert testimony, valuation, research, ratings, investments, risk management, and transactions.

Shirley Webster, Managing Director of Ocean Tomo's new Houston office, and local clients from the Houston area received a special briefing on Minute Maid Park, graciously provided by Astros senior management. Jake Geleerd, Ocean Tomo President and former CEO of the Toronto SkyDome (now Rogers Center), is at home in any stadium. Today he shared his insights on the cutting-edge technologies that make the park work and improve the quality of the viewer experience.

“Minute Maid Park in Houston has many of the same great features initially introduced to the world of sports by SkyDome, such as the retractable roof and technologically advanced video boards,” said Geleerd. “They’ve added many more of their own technologies as well. Minute Maid Park is a spectacular entertainment facility and ball park.”

Produced by Daktronics, the new primary scoreboard in center field is now full color and a second new Daktronics board has been added, placed high above home plate. “Daktronics has 43 U.S. issued patents covering scoreboard technology, including technology focused on video display systems, modular lift and touch-pads,” Geleerd mentioned during the tour.

According to Ocean Tomo Patent Ratings® system data, Daktronics' top rated patent in video display is the '303 patent (with an IPQ® Score of 160), which discloses a control system for an electronic sign. The IPQ score objectively rates patent assets based on a proven statistical methodology, with a median score being 100.

Geleerd's tech talk tour also featured the largest of the Minute Maid Park technologies – the retractable roof. This state-of-the-art technology uses wind speed to dictate the rate of the opening and closing of the roof, taking on average only sixteen minutes to open or close. The entire process is remotely controlled through FM frequency, another unique technology contributing to the field.

Uni-Systems, creator of Minute Maid Park’s roof, owns four patents pertaining to the construction and operation of a retractable roof structure. These four Uni-System patents have an average IPQ of 94, based on the Ocean Tomo PatentRatings system data.

“Minute Maid Park’s behind-the-scenes technologies greatly improve the overall game experience,” commented Shirley Webster. “Being able to share PatentRatings system insights on the Park’s patented technologies was a great way to celebrate the opening of our Houston office.”

About Ocean Tomo, LLC
Established in 2003, Ocean Tomo, LLC, is the leading Intellectual Capital Merchant Banc™ firm. The company provides financial products and services related to Intellectual Property, including expert testimony, valuation, research, ratings, investments, risk management and transactions. Ocean Tomo assists clients – corporations, law firms, governments and institutional investors – in realizing Intellectual Capital Equity® value broadly defined.

Headquartered in Chicago, Ocean Tomo has offices in Boston, Greenwich, Orange County, Paris, and San Francisco. Subsidiaries of Ocean Tomo include: Ocean Tomo Risk Management, LLC; Ocean Tomo Asset Management, LLC; OTI Data Networks, LLC; Patent Marking, LLC; and Ocean Tomo Capital, LLC – publisher of the Ocean Tomo 300® Patent Index family. Ocean Tomo is the founder and majority owner of the Intellectual Property Exchange International (IPXI), Inc. as well as the exclusive licensee and distributor of PatentRatings® system.

About Ocean Tomo PatentRatings®
The PatentRatings® system is the most advanced web-based patent data, rating and analysis platform designed for objectively assessing patent quality, relative value, relevant patents and technologies, competition, and competitive trends. The market validated system is used by major global corporations among the top 100 IP holders. From individual patents and patent portfolios, to technology sectors and companies, the PatentRatings system provides unparalleled strategic insight and analysis. Visit PatentRatings.com for more details.

Media Contact:
Kristi Stathis 773-294-4360
kstathis(at)oceantomo(dot)com

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