IpAuctions Inc. is offering for sale a portfolio of patents held by Queensland, Australia-based Carco Proprietary Ltd. The 12 patents, including U.S. patent 5,796,106, cover intellectual property (IP) for rain/frost/ice sensors that can be used in automotive applications, among others.

The Carco technology employs standard CMOS technology in near infra-red (NIR) self-cleaning sensors able to discriminate instantly between solids, liquids and gases on a glass or plastic sensing surface; detecting change of state between ice and water and measuring frost thickness from less than 0.01 mm to more than 5 mm. The technology is said to be smaller and less expensive than Carco’s original rain sensor technology, and to offer higher performance.