Patents Examined by Jerold Murphy
  • Patent number: 9901292
    Abstract: Systems and methods for a continuous monitoring of analyte values received from an analyte sensor system are provided. One method for a wireless data communication between an analyte sensor system and a mobile device involves storing identification information associated with a transceiver of the analyte sensor system, the identification information entered by a user of the mobile device via a custom application running on the mobile device; causing the custom application to enter a background mode; searching for advertisement signals; receiving an advertisement signal from the transceiver; authenticating the transceiver based on the identification information; prompting the user to bring the custom application to a foreground mode; causing the custom application to request a confirmation from the user that a data connection with the transceiver is desired; receiving the confirmation from the user; and completing the data connection with the transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: DexCom, Inc.
    Inventors: Jose Hector Hernandez-Rosas, Shawn Larvenz, Mark Dervaes, Indrawati Gauba, Michael Robert Mensinger, Eric Cohen, Brian Christopher Smith, Jorge Valdes, Jacob S. Leach
  • Patent number: 9900670
    Abstract: A communication gateway communicates with a utility meter and a meter servicing device. The communication gateway includes a one-way processing module to process communications received from a one-way utility meter and includes a two-way processing module to process communications received from a two-way utility meter. For communications from a one-way utility meter the communication gateway may decode a signal received from the meter to obtain only certain information. For example, metering information may be extracted from the signal, but a spreading sequence may not be decoded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: LANDIS+GYR INNOVATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Cecil Barrett, Anthony DePoy
  • Patent number: 9856730
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the invention, an air drilling downhole telemetry and control system is disclosed, comprising a telemetry and control interface, a topside unit, one or more repeater units, a bottom hole unit, and an air filled drill string composed of a drill pipe acting as a circular waveguide, wherein the topside unit is disposed at the surface end of the drill string, the repeater units are disposed along the drill string, and the bottom hole unit is disposed at the terminal end of the drill string, and each unit is a communications node along a communications link existing between the telemetry and control interface and the bottom hole unit. Each unit comprises a communications subsystem, a power subsystem, and optionally a telemetry and control subsystem. The communications subsystem contains a message buffer system capable of temporarily storing communications during a communications link disruption event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Altan Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Wayne Butner, Michael P. Sanders
  • Patent number: 9859594
    Abstract: A technology is discussed for a wireless transfer station that is operable to communicate management information. Measurement information can be received from one or more other wireless transfer stations. The measurement information can be aggregated from the one or more other wireless transfer stations. The measurement information can be analyzed to determine a status of the one or more wireless transfer stations using the aggregated energy measurement information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Enovate Medical, LLC
    Inventors: David R. Miller, Allen Kilbourne, Mary Metelko
  • Patent number: 9857497
    Abstract: During drilling of an earth borehole, resistance measurements may be made at the drill bit through use of a bottom hole assembly that includes a drill bit having a sensor, such as an electrode, located generally at an exterior surface of the drill bit. The current will be induced in the formation from multiple transmitters, at least one of which will be supported on, or very close to the drill bit. Connection mechanisms are described that enable the releasable engagement of electrical conductors to circuitry within the drill bits. The obtained resistivity measurements at the drill bit can be used for many purposes, including formation imaging and geosteering of the drilling operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael S. Bittar, Gary Weaver, Vadim Minosvan
  • Patent number: 9852615
    Abstract: A bridge device, in communication with a smart device, functions to command one or more controllable appliances in response to communications received from the smart device. The bridge device also includes input elements by which the bridge device can be used to directly command common functional operations of the one or more controllable appliances. In this manner, common functional operations, such as volume control, playback pause/resume control, etc., may be made readily available without necessitating the use of the smart device, while the more sophisticated GUI provided by the smart device remote control app may be advantageously utilized when more complex or less frequently used command functions are to be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Universal Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Jesus Perez, Joven Jubilo, Rex Xu, Jeffrey Kohanek
  • Patent number: 9797745
    Abstract: An inductive drawing or feeding device for inductively drawing off or feeding in electrical energy/electricity by electric vehicles is connected to a power grid. The inductive drawing or feeding device includes a measuring device configured to measure at least one physical parameter representing the electrical energy inductively transmitted through the associated drawing or feeding device. The inductive drawing or feeding device also includes an identifier for identifying the owner of the connection of the inductive drawing or feeding device. The inductive drawing of feeding device further includes a comparing device configured to compare the at least one physical parameter measured at a connecting side with at least one physical parameter measured at a drawing off or feeding side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: UBITRICITY GESELLSCHAFT FÜR VERTEILTE ENERGIESYSTEME MBH
    Inventors: Knut Hechtfischer, Frank Pawlitschek
  • Patent number: 9787307
    Abstract: A hybrid touch button, including: a touch display unit having a touch display area; a mechanical switch having a plurality of conductive contacts; and a control unit, having a power interface for coupling with a power source, a first interface coupled with the touch display area, a second interface coupled with the plurality of conductive contacts, and an output interface, wherein the control unit derives first input information from the first interface and second input information from the second interface, and determines an output configuration of the output interface according to the first input information and the second input information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: YICHENG PRECISION INC.
    Inventors: Jen-Chieh Chang, Chung-Lin Chia, Han-Chang Chen, Yen-Hung Tu, Chih-Wen Wu
  • Patent number: 9775521
    Abstract: A remote patient management system comprising a display and a processor. Execution of instructions cause the processor to: determine at least one first boundary value between a safe zone and a warning zone for each of at least one patient vital sign; determine at least one second boundary value between the warning zone and an alert zone for each of the at least one patient vital sign; repeatedly receive the at least one patient vital sign; determine a status value indicating the safe zone, warning zone, or alert zone; calculate a transition risk value; and display a patient status indicator which indicates the status level and the transition risk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N. V.
    Inventors: Aleksandra Tesanovic, Harald Reiter
  • Patent number: 9747026
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for selecting a keyboard key based on a position of a presence of a conductive object on a sensing device and a pre-defined area of the keyboard key. The apparatus may include a sensing device and a processing device. The sensing device may include a plurality of sensor elements to detect a presence of a conductive object on the sensing device. Multiple keyboard keys are assigned to pre-defined areas of the sensing device. The processing device is coupled to the sensing device using capacitance sensing pins, and may be operable to determine a position of the presence of the conductive object, and to select a keyboard key based on the position of the conductive object and the pre-defined areas of the sensing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: Creator Technology B.V.
    Inventors: Liu Hua, Jiang XiaoPing
  • Patent number: 9719345
    Abstract: A wireless communications system for a downhole drilling operation comprises surface communications equipment and a downhole telemetry tool. The surface communications equipment comprises a surface EM communications module with an EM downlink transmitter configured to transmit an EM downlink transmission at a frequency between 0.01 Hz and 0.1 Hz. The downhole telemetry tool is mountable to a drill string and has a downhole electromagnetic (EM) communications unit with an EM downlink receiver configured to receive the EM downlink transmission. The downhole EM communications unit can further comprise an EM uplink transmitter configured to transmit an EM uplink transmission at a frequency greater than 0.5 Hz, in which case the surface EM communications module further comprises an EM uplink receiver configured to receive the EM uplink transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Evolution Engineering Inc.
    Inventors: David A. Switzer, Jili Liu, Mingdong Xu, Mojtaba Kazemi Miraki, Aaron W. Logan
  • Patent number: 9723381
    Abstract: Systems and methods configured to be worn on a body of user for athletic performance monitoring, and having a sensor for capturing data associated with an athletic activity being carried out by the user. The captured sensor data may be used to identify a break in an athletic training session being carried out by the user, and in response, to automatically pause playback of media content to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventor: Evan Swanson
  • Patent number: 9719803
    Abstract: A system including a transceiver that is in a first device and receives wirelessly or over a powerline and from a second device, (i) a voltage value of a voltage detected between bus bars of a power source, where the power source supplies power to a load, and where the load is distinct from the first and second devices, or (ii) a current value of a current detected by a current sensor and drawn from the power source by the load. A sensing module one of (i) if the transceiver receives the current, detects the voltage and timestamps the voltage value with a first timestamp, and (ii) if the transceiver receives the voltage, determines the current and timestamps the current value with a second timestamp. A parameter module determines a parameter of the load based on the voltage, the current, and the first and second timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Liebert Corporation
    Inventor: Gregory W. Ratcliff
  • Patent number: 9702240
    Abstract: Various embodiments include apparatus and methods to land a well in a target zone with minimal or no overshoot of a target zone. The well may be directed to a target in the target zone based on the separation distance between a transmitter sensor (212) and a receiver sensor (214) being sufficiently large to detect a boundary of the target zone from a distance from the boundary of the target zone such that collected received signals from activating the transmitter sensor (212) can be processed in a time that provides minimal or no overshoot of a target zone. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Service, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael S. Bittar, Baris Guner, Burkay Donderici, Luis E. San Martin
  • Patent number: 9705424
    Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer device is disclosed. The device includes a body and an ultrasonic transducer mounted onto the body. The ultrasonic transducer comprises a shoulder and an O-ring placed on the shoulder. The O-ring substantially covers the interface between the ultrasonic transducer and the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: George David Goodman, Scott Pfeiffer Murta
  • Patent number: 9677908
    Abstract: An advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system includes a meter data management system, an AMI network, a network communication module and metering devices. The AMI network connects to a reference time clock and the meter data management system. The network communication module connects to the AMI network and is in communication with the reference time clock via the AMI network. Each metering device is connected to the network communication module and has a metrology device and a communication module device. The communication module device provides clock adjustments to the metrology clock and/or its own clock. The metrology device provides clock adjustments to the communications module clock and/or its own clock. Methods for use in an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system provide clock adjustments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Aclara Technologies LLC
    Inventor: David Haynes
  • Patent number: 9672730
    Abstract: An apparatus for diagnosis of a communication channel, wherein a communication signal serves for data transmission and is a frequency-modulated signal. The apparatus includes a receiving circuit, which serves for receiving the frequency-modulated signal. The receiving circuit includes a monitoring unit, which serves for determining a signal parameter of the frequency-modulated signal. The receiving circuit also includes a demodulator, which serves to demodulate the frequency-modulated signal. The receiving circuit also includes a signal processing unit, which is connected with the demodulator and with the monitoring unit, wherein the signal processing unit, at least at times, serves for evaluating the signal parameter of the frequency-modulated signal determined by means the monitoring unit and, at least at times, for evaluating the demodulated signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: ENDRESS + HAUSER WETZER GMBH + CO. KG
    Inventors: Markus Wohrle, Gunter Klotz, Christoph Horn
  • Patent number: 9648400
    Abstract: The invention relates to a system of consumption meters (2) arranged in a communication network, where program data of the consumption meters can be updated via the communication network. A data collector (3) is arranged for updating the program data of a group of consumption meters over the network. This is performed by establishing a dedicated update session to each consumption meter of the group of consumption meters, and transmitting addressed update program segments to consumption meters in session. During the update session with a given consumption meter, any other consumption meter which is within communication range (8) will, if it receives the update segment, store it even though the segment is addressed to another meter. In an update session of a next meter, only segments not already stored from a previous session to another consumption meter are transmitted to the next meter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Kamstrup A/S
    Inventors: Flemming Hald, Johnny Dørken Christiansen
  • Patent number: 9634473
    Abstract: A system and method for providing redundant wired pipe-in-pipe telemetry is described. In one embodiment, a system includes an outer pipe and an inner pipe disposed within the outer pipe. The outer pipe axially supports the inner pipe using a collar of the inner pipe. A first conductive element is coupled to the inner pipe and disposed at least partially within an annulus between the inner pipe and the outer pipe. A second conductive element is disposed within the outer pipe. A wired path controller is coupled to the collar of the inner pipe, and also coupled to the first conductive element and the second conductive element. A connector is coupled to the collar of the inner pipe, which coupled the second conductive element to the wired path controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Clive D. Menezes, Richard T. Hay
  • Patent number: 9626864
    Abstract: A remote control device communicates remote control discovery information to a receiver. The remote control device is used to control a particular electronic consumer device. The remote control discovery information may, for example, include: a codeset identifier that identifies a codeset stored in the remote control device, device information, diagnostic information, and/or marketing information. The device information may include a device description, and/or device characteristics information that correspond to the electronic consumer device. In one example, the receiver is a set-top box that is connected to a central database through a network. The remote control discovery information may be used to identify the remote control device and the corresponding electronic consumer device. In addition, the remote control discovery information may also be used for diagnostic and marketing purposes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Universal Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Dan N. McKay, Raymond O. Chock