US Patent 7352608 - Vibrational nanomechanical memory

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7352608.html

There is a growing interest in mechanical memory and computing devices as discussed in theis Computerworld article. This patent from Boston University teaches one variation of nanomechanical memory using vibration states stored in a nanoscale bridge. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanoscale mechanical memory element comprising: a bridge element between first and second supports; means for vibrationally exciting said bridge at a first frequency representative of a first state; means for vibrationally exciting said bridge at a second frequency lower than said first frequency representative of a second state; and means for sensing the state of said bridge.