Patents Examined by Geoffrey Wellman
  • Patent number: 9471082
    Abstract: Described herein are methods and systems, including computer program products, for optimizing and controlling the energy consumption of a building. A computing device generates thermal response coefficients for the building based on energy characteristics of the building and weather data associated with the location of the building. The computing device an energy response for each of a plurality of different points in time based on the thermal response coefficients and forecasted weather conditions. The computing device selects minimal energy requirements based on an energy consumption cost. The computing device determines a series of temperature set points based on the corresponding energy response and the minimal energy requirements. The computing device transmits the series of temperature set points to a thermostat, which adjusts operating parameters using each series of temperature set points when a time value matches the point in time associated with each series of temperature set points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignees: Earth Networks Inc., The University of Maryland College Park
    Inventors: Christopher Dale Sloop, David Oberholzer, Robert S. Marshall, Jungho Kim, Michael Siemann
  • Patent number: 9442497
    Abstract: An air conditioning management device is mutually communicably connected to multiple air conditioners, and is equipped with: a storage that stores connection information that indicate remote control devices respectively controlling the plurality of air conditioners, the air conditioners connected thereto; a wasteful operation determiner that determines whether or not any of the plurality of air conditioners are in a wasteful operating state; and a wasteful operation notifier which, in the case where wasteful operation determiner determines that at least one of the plurality of air conditioners is in a wasteful operating state, notifies that the air conditioner is in a wasteful operating state to the remote control device connected to that air conditioner, on the basis of the connection information stored in the storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takeru Kuroiwa, Taichi Ishizaka
  • Patent number: 9420726
    Abstract: A container includes a server and a management server. A general fan takes in outside air to the container and sends the taken-in outside air to the server. An internal server fan is built into the server and cools down a CPU provided in the server. A fan-operation management unit controls rotation speeds of the internal server fan and the general fan based on a temperature of the CPU.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Hiroyoshi Kodama
  • Patent number: 9417637
    Abstract: The current application is directed to intelligent controllers that initially aggressively learn, and then continue, in a steady-state mode, to monitor, learn, and modify one or more control schedules that specify a desired operational behavior of a device, machine, system, or organization controlled by the intelligent controller. An intelligent controller generally acquires one or more initial control schedules through schedule-creation and schedule-modification interfaces or by accessing a default control schedule stored locally or remotely in a memory or mass-storage device. The intelligent controller then proceeds to learn, over time, a desired operational behavior for the device, machine, system, or organization controlled by the intelligent controller based on immediate-control inputs, schedule-modification inputs, and previous and current control schedules, encoding the desired operational behavior in one or more control schedules and/or sub-schedules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Yoky Matsuoka, Mark Malhotra
  • Patent number: 9411330
    Abstract: A numerical control device for a working machine capable of controlling a tool posture relative to a workpiece using rotational driving of a rotary drive axis about a machine control point includes: an interpolation unit that performs an interpolation process on moving data generated from a machining program and outputs a position of the machine control point for each interpolation point; a coordinate transformation unit that transforms a position of the machine control point to a tool tip-point position; a stroke-limit determination unit that determines whether the position of the machine control point and the tool tip-point position fall within a range of a movable region, and selects and outputs a stroke limit signal indicating a stroke limit and a tool-posture changing command for instructing change of the tool posture; and a tool-posture changing unit that changes the tool posture in response to the tool-posture changing command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yukihiro Iuchi, Daisuke Fujino, Naoki Nakamura, Tomonori Sato
  • Patent number: 9405289
    Abstract: A system and method for autonomously tracing a cause of particle contamination during semiconductor manufacture is provided. A contamination analysis system analyzes tool process logs together with particle contamination data for multiple process runs to determine a relationship between systematic particle contamination levels and one or more tool parameters. This relationship is used to predict expected contamination levels associated with regular usage of the tool, and to identify which tool parameters have the largest impact on expected levels of particle contamination. The contamination analysis system also identifies process logs showing unexpected deviant particle contamination levels that exceed expected contamination levels, and traces the cause of the deviant particle contamination to particular process log parameter events.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Aaron Archer Waterman, Yuichiro Morozumi, Tetsushi Ozaki, Sanjeev Kaushal, Sukesh Janubhai Patel
  • Patent number: 9377330
    Abstract: A method for monitoring a transmitter that has a measurement unit and a transmission unit which are interconnected to each other in order to transmit signals. There is at least one connecting line for supplying power to the measurement unit which determines a measurement quantity and generates a measurement signal which is dependent on it. The transmission unit receives the measurement signal from the measurement unit, and based on the measurement signal, transfers an output signal to at least one signal transmission element. To provide a method for monitoring a transmitter which allows reliable displaying of an error as easily as possible and the shifting of the transmitter into a secured state, in the case in which the measurement unit detects the presence of an error state, the measurement unit acts on the connecting line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: KROHNE Messtechnik GmbH
    Inventor: Vincent Pichot
  • Patent number: 9342065
    Abstract: In devices for generating a path of a tool of a processing machine by way of computer simulation, an NC program is created using a generated processing path. The NC program used to be corrected by verification of actually moving the processing machine. In contrast, the disclosed processing path generation device has been constituted to be provided with a means for calculating a closest distance and direction from a relationship of a position and posture between a tool and a work at an arbitrary point upon the processing path; a means for imparting a color determined by the closest distance and the direction calculated at the point upon the processing path; a means for panoramically displaying the color imparted to the work; and a means for correcting the relationship of the a position and posture between the tool and the work on the basis of information from a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoichi Nonaka, Hisaya Ishibashi, Takahiro Nakano
  • Patent number: 9304500
    Abstract: A system for monitoring and controlling electricity usage in a building includes a system control unit and an enhanced wiring device in wireless communication with the system control unit. The enhanced wiring device is hard-wired into the building electrical infrastructure, and is selected from the group consisting of an electrical outlet receptacle and an electrical power switch. The enhanced wiring device further includes a sensor for monitoring a stimulus parameter in a room of the building, a processor, at least one memory coupled to the processor, and program instructions stored on the at least one memory for execution by the processor to evaluate and communicate data from the sensor. The enhanced wiring device further includes an antenna for transmitting the sensor data to the system control unit, and a user interface connected to the system control unit adapted to configure and monitor data from the enhanced wiring device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Cortland Research LLC
    Inventor: Stephen McMahon
  • Patent number: 9279596
    Abstract: A computerized method for diagnosing a damper condition in a flow control unit includes providing a control signal to a damper. The control signal instructs the damper to move into a target position or to achieve a target flow rate through the flow control unit. The method further includes receiving pressure information including one or more pressure measurements from a differential pressure sensor of the flow control unit and using the pressure information and the control signal to conduct a damper performance diagnostic. The damper performance diagnostic includes at least one of: a stuck damper diagnostic, a predictive damper failure diagnostic, an improperly-sized damper diagnostic, and a damper leakage diagnostic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Troy A. Goldschmidt, Dimitri S. Papadopoulos
  • Patent number: 9268322
    Abstract: An apparatus that creates, based on shape data of an object to be machined and grinding allowance data for the shape data, a numerically controlled machining program that has the grinding allowance data reflected in the shape data, is configured to include storing means 2 and 4 that store the shape data of the object to be machined and the grinding allowance data; a shape data modification means 5 that modifies the shape data to create, based on the grinding allowance data, shape data having a grinding allowance; and a numerically controlled machining program creation means 6 that creates a numerically controlled machining program for the modified shape data, with the apparatus enabling easy and efficient creation of a numerically controlled machining program having the grinding allowance reflected in the shape data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Susumu Matsubara, Kenji Iriguchi, Nobuyuki Takahashi, Mahito Matsuura, Takeshi Tasaka, Takashi Kambara
  • Patent number: 9261863
    Abstract: Described herein are methods and systems, including computer program products, for optimizing and controlling the energy consumption of a building. A first computing device generates a set of thermal response coefficients for the building based on energy characteristics of the building and weather data associated with the location of the building. The first computing device predicts an energy response of the building based on the set of thermal response coefficients and forecasted weather associated with the location of the building. The first computing device selects minimal energy requirements of the building based on an energy consumption cost associated with the building. The first computing device determines one or more temperature set points for the building based on the energy response and the minimal energy requirements. The first computing device transmits the one or more temperature set points to a thermostat of the building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignees: Earth Networks, Inc., University of Maryland College Park
    Inventors: Christopher Dale Sloop, David Oberholzer, Robert S. Marshall, Jungho Kim, Michael Siemann
  • Patent number: 9244447
    Abstract: To provide a substrate processing apparatus, including a control unit that performs control to transfer a prescribed substrate into each chamber, wherein when error is detected during transfer of the substrate, the control unit performs control to: specify a place where the error is generated; select a fallback operation table according to a processing status of the substrate, which is the table defining a processing content for each part of the substrate processing apparatus including the place where the error is generated; and transfer the substrate based on the selected fallback operation table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: HITACHI KOKUSAI ELECTRIC INC.
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Mizuguchi
  • Patent number: 9218008
    Abstract: Energy efficient control of cooling system cooling of an electronic system is provided based, in part, on weighted cooling effectiveness of the components. The control includes automatically determining speed control settings for multiple adjustable cooling components of the cooling system. The automatically determining is based, at least in part, on weighted cooling effectiveness of the components of the cooling system, and the determining operates to limit power consumption of at least the cooling system, while ensuring that a target temperature associated with at least one of the cooling system or the electronic system is within a desired range by provisioning, based on the weighted cooling effectiveness, a desired target temperature change among the multiple adjustable cooling components of the cooling system. The provisioning includes provisioning applied power to the multiple adjustable cooling components via, at least in part, the determined control settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2015
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Levi A. Campbell, Richard C. Chu, Milnes P. David, Michael J. Ellsworth, Jr., Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Roger R. Schmidt, Robert E. Simons
  • Patent number: 9213343
    Abstract: Energy efficient control of cooling system cooling of an electronic system is provided based, in part, on weighted cooling effectiveness of the components. The control includes automatically determining speed control settings for multiple adjustable cooling components of the cooling system. The automatically determining is based, at least in part, on weighted cooling effectiveness of the components of the cooling system, and the determining operates to limit power consumption of at least the cooling system, while ensuring that a target temperature associated with at least one of the cooling system or the electronic system is within a desired range by provisioning, based on the weighted cooling effectiveness, a desired target temperature change among the multiple adjustable cooling components of the cooling system. The provisioning includes provisioning applied power to the multiple adjustable cooling components via, at least in part, the determined control settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Levi A. Campbell, Richard C. Chu, Milnes P. David, Michael J. Ellsworth, Jr., Madhusudan K. Iyengar, Roger R. Schmidt, Robert E. Simons
  • Patent number: 9176562
    Abstract: A system and method for executing a plurality of pre-determined signal processing tasks includes an energy source for powering a signal processing system. The energy source supplies an amount of energy that varies over the service life of the energy source. The signal processing system determines an amount of energy available from the energy source and selects for execution a specific one of the pre-determined signal processing tasks in dependence on the amount determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: AKTIEBOLAGET SKF
    Inventors: Frank de Wit, Florin Tatar
  • Patent number: 9170579
    Abstract: A digital energy system monitors and controls a plurality of industrial energy devices. The system includes a server and one or more interface devices coupled to the industrial energy devices. Each of the interface devices has a dynamically configurable runtime environment. The server sends configuration data to each of interface devices. The configuration data includes variable definitions that reference specific registers on the industrial energy devices. The server monitors the industrial energy devices by obtaining values for one or more of the variables set forth in the variable definitions. To control an industrial energy device, the server sends a write request for the industrial energy device to the interface device with a value for a defined variable in the device definition for the industrial energy device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: Blue Pillar, Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley Jay Witter, Kyle Patrick Zeronik
  • Patent number: 9141102
    Abstract: A method for scheduling an appliance operation is provided. The method includes receiving a plurality of signals. Each signal has an on-peak signal. Based upon the plurality of signals, a predicted on-peak time value is determined. The predicted on-peak time value can be used to determine when to execute an appliance operation in order to avoid operating the appliance during an on-peak time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John Alexander Gardner, Khalid Jamal Mashal, Geoffrey Lee Ranard, Christopher Styn
  • Patent number: 9134708
    Abstract: An example information processing device includes first and second receiving units, a deciding unit, and first and second transmitting units. The first receiving unit receives adjustment limit information from a plurality of first external devices. The deciding unit determines adjustment rules on the basis of the adjustment limit information. The first transmitting unit transmits the adjustment rules to second and third external devices. The second receiving unit receives determination information from a fourth external device. The second transmitting unit transmits the adjustment rules to the first external devices when integrated schedule information satisfies a condition. When the integrated schedule information does not satisfy the condition, the deciding unit changes the adjustment rules. When the deciding unit has changed the adjustment rules, the first transmitting unit transmits new adjustment rules to the second and third external devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kenichiro Furuta, Yuichi Komano, Shinji Yamanaka, Satoshi Ito, Hideyuki Aisu, Tomoshi Otsuki, Masatake Sakuma, Taichi Isogai
  • Patent number: 9134723
    Abstract: In devices for generating a path of a tool of a processing machine by way of computer simulation, an NC program is created using a generated processing path. The NC program used to be corrected by verification of actually moving the processing machine. In contrast, the disclosed processing path generation device has been constituted to be provided with a means for calculating a closest distance and direction from a relationship of a position and posture between a tool and a work at an arbitrary point upon the processing path; a means for imparting a color determined by the closest distance and the direction calculated at the point upon the processing path; a means for panoramically displaying the color imparted to the work; and a means for correcting the relationship of the a position and posture between the tool and the work on the basis of information from a display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoichi Nonaka, Hisaya Ishibashi, Takahiro Nakano