Patents Examined by Dennis Hancock
  • Patent number: 10161957
    Abstract: A method for closed loop operation of a capacitive accelerometer comprising: a proof mass; first and second sets of both fixed and moveable capacitive electrode fingers, interdigitated with each other; the method comprising: applying PWM drive signals to the fixed fingers; sensing displacement of the proof mass and changing the mark:space ratio of the PWM drive signals, to provide a restoring force on the proof mass that balances the inertial force of the applied acceleration and maintains the proof mass at a null position; detecting when the mark:space ratio for the null position is beyond a predetermined upper or lower threshold; and further modulating the PWM drive signals by extending or reducing x pulses in every y cycles, where x>1 and y>1, to provide an average mark:space ratio beyond the upper or lower threshold without further increasing or decreasing the mark length of the other pulses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: ATLANTIC INERTIAL SYSTEMS, LIMITED
    Inventors: Kevin Townsend, Michael Terence Durston
  • Patent number: 10156582
    Abstract: The present disclosure is for a bicycle pedaling frequency sensor comprising a signal acquisition unit, a data transmission unit, and/or a data conversion unit. Pedaling frequency is obtained by recording and converting periodical changes of acceleration and/or of angular velocity in real time. This can be achieved by further incorporating a two axis, a three axis acceleration sensors, and/or gyroscope sensors. The pedaling frequency sensor communicates wirelessly with a computing terminal. It is powered and housed within the cavity of a shell, wherein the shell's outer surface is in thread fit with an inner surface of an expansion component. The expansion component allows the sensor to be inserted into and secured within hollow spaces on a bicycle's pedals and/or cranks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: ShenZhen QianHai Livall IOT Technology CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kenneth Liu
  • Patent number: 10151970
    Abstract: An aerial panoramic oblique photography apparatus includes a pod body provided with at least two nadir cameras and a plurality of oblique cameras. The at least two nadir cameras are arranged in a transverse direction, and the shooting regions of adjacent nadir cameras of the at least two nadir cameras are partially overlapping. Since the aerial panoramic oblique photography apparatus is provided with at least two transversely arranged nadir cameras, a plurality of stripes of aerial images is obtained for each aerial oblique photo-shooting operation. This can increase photo-shooting efficiency, reduce the number of flight, and lower photo-shooting cost. The combination of at least two nadir cameras and a plurality of oblique cameras can capture texture of the sides of urban buildings from multiple angles. Three-dimensional real scenery model of a city can be established more efficiently and completely.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: AS VISION LIMITED
    Inventor: Man Kit Liu
  • Patent number: 10151965
    Abstract: This application relates to the field of aerial vehicle technologies, and provides a motor, a gimbal, and an unmanned aerial vehicle. The motor includes: a first and a second connection terminals, where the first connection terminal includes a circuit board including a coil circuit; the second connection terminal includes a permanent magnet adjacent to the coil circuit, wherein there is a gap between the permanent magnet and the coil circuit, and the permanent magnet has an axial magnetization structure; one of the first and the second connection terminals is fixedly connected to a lens module and sleeved over the lens module, and the other is movably connected to the lens module and sleeved over the lens module. In the foregoing manner, the overall size and weight of the motor are greatly reduced, and therefore, the motor has the advantages of a compact structure, a small size, and a light weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: AUTEL ROBOTICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Zhengli Zhang, Songtao Chang, Zhuanpeng Cheng
  • Patent number: 10145236
    Abstract: Techniques and systems to monitor a blowout preventer. A device may include a protrusion sized to extend though an aperture of a blowout preventer. The device may also include a sensor disposed on a first end of the protrusion, wherein the sensor is configured to sense at least one condition occurring in a central bore of the blowout preventer disposed perpendicular to the aperture and generate a signal indicative of the sensed condition. The device may further include an electrical connector configured to receive the signal and transmit the signal from the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Ensco International Incorporated
    Inventor: Christophe Vitou
  • Patent number: 10146101
    Abstract: A method for sequential control of a diaphragm arrangement of a camera, the arrangement comprising a diaphragm, and an integrated IR cut filter always covering at least a portion of an aperture opening of the diaphragm, comprising: initiating closing or opening of the diaphragm; detecting an amount of incident radiation when the diaphragm has an initial aperture opening; shifting the aperture opening to an intermediate aperture opening to alter the ratio between visible light and infrared radiation passing the diaphragm; detecting an amount of incident radiation following the shift; calculating a composition of visual light and infrared radiation in the scene from the detected amounts of incident radiation and a calculated ratio between visible light and infrared radiation when having the initial aperture opening and the intermediate aperture opening, respectively; and shifting the aperture opening of the diaphragm to a new position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Axis AB
    Inventors: Stefan Lundberg, Jonas Hjelmström
  • Patent number: 10139121
    Abstract: An air conditioner includes a cabinet, a particle sensing unit coupled to the cabinet and configured to measure a particle concentration of an outside, and an inlet provided at the cabinet and configured to communicate with the outside so that particles flow into the particle sensing unit, and the particle sensing unit includes a first particle sensor configured to sense particles flowing in through the inlet, and a second particle sensor coupled to form a connection path in which particles move between the first particle sensor and the second particle sensor to sense the particles passing through the first particle sensor. The air conditioner allows the sensing of fine particles and ultrafine particles due to a plurality of particle sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jae Rim Jung, Se Kwan Jeong, Jong Whal Kim, Tae Duk Kim, Yun Suk Park, Sun-Hee Son, Young Seok Lim, Hee-Soo Jung
  • Patent number: 10125914
    Abstract: A pan tilt drive device includes a board, a drive worm that is rotatably supported by the board, a terminal worm wheel that is rotatably disposed relative to the board, a holder plate that is parallel to the board, a shaft that is rotatably supported while being parallel to the holder plate, an intermediate worm wheel that is fixed to one end of the shaft, and that meshes with the drive worm, an intermediate worm that is fixed to the other end of the shaft, and that meshes with the terminal worm wheel, a pivot mechanism, and a biasing member that biases the holder plate toward the drive worm and the terminal worm wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichiro Okamura, Takashi Saitou, Kouji Abe
  • Patent number: 10120102
    Abstract: A fluid sensor cable assembly and method uses one or more conductive bodies extending along an elongated core body for conducting a heating current to heat the cable assembly. The one or more conductive bodies also are configured to conduct an interrogation signal and to conduct reflections of the interrogation signal. One or more optical fibers extend along the length of the core body and include temperature sensitive elements at different locations along the length of the core body. The temperature sensitive elements measure heat flux out of the cable assembly at the different locations subsequent to heating the cable assembly and communicate the heat flux to a computer acquisition system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Loucas Tsakalakos, Slawomir Rubinsztajn, Renato Guida, Mahadevan Balasubramaniam, Boon Kwee Lee, Brian Magann Rush, Faisal Razi Ahmad, Sudeep Mandal, David Sirda Shanks
  • Patent number: 10116853
    Abstract: An integrated image sensor and lens assembly comprises a lens barrel, an adapter tube, and a lens mount. The lens mount includes a first thread having a first pitch and the tube adapter comprises a second thread reciprocal to the first thread. The first and second threads secure the tube adapter within the lens mount. The tube adapter further comprises a third thread having a second pitch different than the first pitch, and the lens barrel comprises a fourth thread reciprocal to the third thread. The third and fourth threads secure the lens barrel within the tube adapter. A rotation of the tube adapter with respect to the lens barrel and the lens mount causes linear movement of the lens barrel and the lens mount with respect to the tube adapter in a same direction along the optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Xiwen Wang, Karen Ann Baumgartner, Emilio Graff
  • Patent number: 10095091
    Abstract: An orbiting camera mount including an anti-rotation arm for connection to a spindle nose of a machine tool. A stationary pulley, having a pulley bore, is fixed to an end portion of the anti-rotation arm. The mount also includes a mounting post for connection to a spindle of the machine tool. The mounting post includes a drive shaft portion extending through the pulley bore. A drive housing is fixed to the drive shaft portion for rotation therewith and an output shaft is supported in the drive housing. A driven pulley is fixed to the output shaft and a drive belt extends between the stationary and driven pulleys, whereby rotation of the mounting post causes the output shaft to orbit around the drive shaft portion. A camera mounting stem is coupled to the output shaft and is oriented at a non-zero angle with respect to the drive shaft portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Inventor: Larry J. Costa
  • Patent number: 10054580
    Abstract: A wet standard calibration system which utilizes a heat conducting foam with the liquid therein to serve as a primary heating device to avoid the need to include mechanical agitation. The system is particularly useful for generating a vapor comprising water and ethanol which can be used for the calibration of breath alcohol testers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: Alcotek, Inc.
    Inventor: Karl R. Wolf, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10054842
    Abstract: A gimbal includes a first support frame, a second support frame, a third support frame, and a center of gravity adjusting unit. The first support frame includes two first pillars and a guiding post connected between the two first pillars and approximately perpendicular to the two first pillars. The guiding post is configured to carry an imaging device. The second support frame includes two second pillars hinged with the two first pillars, respectively. The third support frame includes a third pillar and a connecting plate. One end of the third pillar is connected to the two second pillars. The connecting plate is connected to another end of the third pillar. The center of gravity adjusting unit is provided in one of the two first pillars, the guiding post, or the connecting plate, and configured to adjust a center of gravity of the gimbal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: SZ DJI OSMO TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Paul Pan, Yanchong Zhao
  • Patent number: 10047898
    Abstract: A gimbal assembly and a hand-held device are provided. The gimbal assembly includes a gimbal, an image pick-up device and a light-transmitting cover covering the gimbal and the image pick-up device. The gimbal includes a holding assembly, the holding assembly is configured to drive the image pick-up device to rotate around at least one axis in the light-transmitting cover. The at least one axis passes through a spherical center of the light-transmitting cover, and upon the image pick-up device rotating, an optical axis of a lens of the image pick-up device always coincides with a normal line of a tangent plane at an intersection of the optical axis and the light-transmitting cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: ZEROTECH (SHENZHEN) INTELLIGENCE ROBOT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Zhangtao Xie, Hongtao Sun
  • Patent number: 10018394
    Abstract: The present invention provides for a system for calibrating operation of a compressor unit in a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. A measuring device measures an operating parameter of the HVAC system at a position where the measuring device is mounted on a refrigerant line of the HVAC system. The measuring device switches states when the value of the measured operating parameter reaches a switching value. A controller estimates a value of the first operating parameter at the position where the first measuring device is mounted on the refrigerant line, and the controller determines whether the estimated first operating parameter is within a threshold percentage of the switching value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Lennox Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Berg, Rakesh Goel
  • Patent number: 10018894
    Abstract: A lens carrier for a camera system of a surroundings detection system of a motor vehicle including a printed circuit foil, tracks being applied as conductors or resistors to a first side of the printed circuit foil, and a plastic material being injection-molded onto a second side of the printed circuit foil situated opposite the first side. A corresponding method for manufacturing a lens carrier, device for manufacturing a lens carrier, and a camera system for a surroundings detection system of a motor vehicle, are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Stefan Apelt, Stephan Geise
  • Patent number: 10006926
    Abstract: A specimen inspection apparatus into which a specimen transporting apparatus is inserted, the specimen inspection apparatus including: a platform including an upper plate and a lower plate disposed to face each other and to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance; an injection part provided in the upper plate, a front end of the specimen transporting apparatus being inserted into the injection part; an introduction part connected to the injection part and provided between the upper and lower plate; and a plurality of stepped parts provided in the introduction part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Young-goun Lee, Jung-ki Min, Jong-gun Lee, Hyun-ju Jung
  • Patent number: 10006824
    Abstract: Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) pressure sensors having a leakage path are described. Provided implementations can comprise a MEMS pressure sensor system associated with a back cavity and a membrane that separates the back cavity and an ambient atmosphere. A pressure of the ambient atmosphere is determined based on a parameter associated with movement of the membrane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2018
    Assignee: INVENSENSE, INC.
    Inventors: Julius Ming-Lin Tsai, Aleksey S. Khenkin, Baris Cagdaser, James Christian Salvia, Fariborz Assaderaghi
  • Patent number: 9983080
    Abstract: A high-temperature gas pressure measuring method includes a pressure measuring gas housing dividing step for dividing a pressure measuring gas housing into a pressure measuring room and a pressure referring room by a metal diaphragm; a gas introducing step for introducing high temperature gas into the pressure measuring room and introducing a reference pressure gas into the pressure referring room; a displacement measuring step for measuring a displacement of the metal diaphragm, wherein the displacement is caused by pressure difference between the two rooms in pressure measuring gas housing; and a pressure determining step for measuring the pressure of a high-temperature and/or corrosive to-measure pressure gas. The method dispenses with any corrosion-resistant and heat-resistant pressure sensing component and thus cuts costs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: NATIONAL CHUNG SHAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Yih-Hsing Wang, Wen-Chueh Pan, Ming-June Lin, Jen-Chieh Li, Tien-Fu Wu, Tsan-Tung Chen
  • Patent number: 9976943
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device to position and align a rotationally-symmetrical body (28) with respect to a measuring device (19) for the implementation of a measurement on the rotationally-symmetrical body (28), having a basic element (24) which has a contact surface (22) on a pin (23) or is allocated to a contact surface (22) on which the rotationally-symmetrical body (28) is supported for the implementation of the measurement, wherein a positioning element (41) which can be moved relative to the contact surface (22) is provided on the basic element (24), said positioning element (41) comprising a prismatic receiver (64), wherein the contact surface (22) is positioned within the prismatic receiver (64) or abuts on this and a movement path of the positioning element (41) towards the basic element (22) corresponds at least to the height of the prismatic receiver (64).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Helmut Fischer GmbH Institut für Elektronik und Messtechnik
    Inventors: Werner Volz, Henry Thiele, Paul Boos