Patents Examined by Rufus L Phillips
  • Patent number: 11441998
    Abstract: A laser sensor module measures a particle density of particles with a size of less than 20 ?m. The laser sensor module includes: a laser configured to emit a laser beam; a detector; and an optical arrangement. The optical arrangement is configured to focus the laser beam to a focus region. The laser is configured to emit the laser beam through the optical arrangement to the focus region. The optical arrangement has an emission window. The detector is configured to determine an interference signal of an interference of reflected laser light with emitted later light of the laser beam. The laser sensor module is configured to provide an indication signal of a soiling of the emission window based on the interference signal determined during a mechanical excitation of the emission window.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignees: TRUMPF PHOTONIC COMPONENTS GMBH, ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Petrus Theodorus Jutte, Okke Ouweltjes, Soren Sofke, Johannes Hendrikus Maria Spruit
  • Patent number: 11415512
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus (1) for imaging a sample (7) comprising an array of electronically addressable pixels (6) wherein each pixel is arranged to support a surface plasmon resonance thereinto generate an evanescent electromagnetic field (8) which extends transversely from the pixel so as to be salient from plane of the array for illuminating the sample (7). An optical detector (12) is arranged for detecting optical radiation (9, 10, 11) scattered from the evanescent electromagnetic field (8) by the sample (7). A processing unit (4) arranged to associate the detected optical radiation (9, 10, 11) with the address of the pixel or pixels within the array at which the surface plasmon resonance was generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN
    Inventor: Dominic Zerulla
  • Patent number: 11397253
    Abstract: A LIDAR system includes one or more LIDAR sensor assemblies, which may be mounted to a vehicle or other object. Each LIDAR sensor assembly includes a laser light source to emit laser light, and a light sensor to produce a light signal in response to sensing reflected light corresponding to reflection of the laser light emitted by the laser light source from a reference surface that is fixed in relation to the LIDAR sensor assembly. A controller of the LIDAR sensor assembly may calibrate the LIDAR sensor assembly based at least in part on a signal from the light sensor indicating detection of reflected light corresponding to reflection of a pulse of laser light reflected from the reference surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Zoox, Inc.
    Inventors: Adam Berger, Riley Andrews, Ryan McMichael, Denis Nikitin, Brian Alexander Pesch, Brian Pilnick
  • Patent number: 11391717
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a method of altering chemical properties of an in-process resin used with a 3D printing apparatus. The method includes monitoring the in-process resin using an imaging spectrometer, comparing the in-process resin and a model using one or more spectrums from the imaging spectrometer, and diluting the in-process resin with a diluting resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Stephanie Lynn DePalma, Michael Joseph O'Brien, Brittany Nicole Potter
  • Patent number: 11385168
    Abstract: A spectroscopic analysis apparatus, a spectroscopic analysis method, and a program capable of appropriately analyzing a sample are provided. The spectroscopic analysis apparatus according to an embodiment includes: a light source (13) generates light to be incident on a sample including a plurality of substances labeled by a plurality of labeled substances; a spectrometer (14) disperse observed light generated in the sample by the light incident on the sample; a detector (15) detects the observed light dispersed by the spectrometer (14) to output observed spectral data; and a processor (16) analyzes the plurality of substances included in the sample based on the observed spectral data output from the detector (15), the processor (16) analyzing the substances included in the sample using a generalized inverse of a matrix having, as elements, reference spectral data set for the plurality of labeled substances and data of a noise component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Minoru Asogawa
  • Patent number: 11287364
    Abstract: A flow cytometer including a laser beam that impinges upon a sample stream at an angle at 15-70°, optionally 30°, from C an orthogonal plane where the light and fluid intercept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Inventor: Gerrit Jan Van Den Engh
  • Patent number: 11285267
    Abstract: A sensor device configured to be attached to a drug delivery device and configured to illuminate the drug delivery device when attached, the sensor device having an OLED having a transparent first electrode, a transparent second electrode and a central layer disposed between the first and second electrodes, the central layer comprising at least one organic layer, the at least one organic layer configured to emit light through the transparent first electrode, and an optical sensor arranged to receive light reflected from a surface of the drug delivery device, wherein the central layer of the OLED has a region without the at least one organic layer and wherein the optical sensor is arranged, when the sensor device is attached to the drug delivery device, to view a predetermined area of the surface of the drug delivery device through the region without the at least one organic layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GMBH
    Inventors: Gertrud Blei, Mario Bock
  • Patent number: 11280719
    Abstract: A particle sizing method which allows for counting and sizing of particles within a colloidal suspension flowing through a single-particle optical sizing sensor SPOS apparatus using pulse height detection and utilizing non-parallel and non-uniform illumination within the sensing region of the flow cell. The method involves utilizing a deconvolution process which requires the SPOS apparatus to be characterized during a calibration phase. Once the SPOS apparatus has been characterized, the process of deconvolution after a data collection run, recursively eliminates the expected statistical contribution to the pulse height distribution PHD histogram in all the lower channels from the highest channel height detected, and repeating this for all remaining channels in the PHD, removing the contributions from largest to smallest sizes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2022
    Inventor: Paul Toumbas
  • Patent number: 11255776
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed to determine the concentration of a species within a sample. An example method may include collecting optical loss data over a range of frequencies from the sample using a spectroscopy system; placing the optical loss data into a plurality of bins, each bin having a defined frequency width; determining an average optical loss data value for the optical loss values within each bin that have an optical loss value less than a threshold value; removing the optical loss data within each bin having a value outside a tolerance range bounding the average optical loss data value for the respective bin; fitting a spectral curve to the remaining optical loss data; and determining the concentration of the species within the sample based on the spectral curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Colorado State University Research Foundation
    Inventor: Azer P. Yalin
  • Patent number: 11248899
    Abstract: The embodiments herein relate to a method for deriving topography of an object surface. A linearly polarized light wave is directed towards the object surface and a reference surface. Images of reflected linearly polarized light wave for a plurality of wavelengths are obtained. The images are obtained for at least four polarizations for each of the plurality of wavelengths. The reflected linearly polarized light wave is a reflection of the linearly polarized light wave directed towards the object surface and the reference surface. The topography of the object surface based on the obtained images is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: QSO Interferometer Systems AB
    Inventor: Lars Bååth
  • Patent number: 11248961
    Abstract: The disclosure features methods for analyzing a sample, the methods including exposing the sample to plurality of pulses of electromagnetic radiation to convert a portion of the sample into a plasma, recording a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation emitted in response to each of the plurality of pulses to define a sequence of spectra for the sample, and using an electronic processor to determine information about the sample based on the spectra, where exposing the sample to the plurality of pulses of electromagnetic radiation includes directing the pulses to be incident on different spatial regions of the sample, and where a temporal delay between exposing the sample to each successive radiation pulse is constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: MAT International Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Catherine E. McManus, James W. Dowe, III, Tristan M. Likes, James W. Dowe, IV, Paul McManus, Nelson Winkless, III, Ashley Shelton, Karly Baughn, Robert Baughn, Regan Orr
  • Patent number: 11249006
    Abstract: A device and method for reliably and accurately detecting impurities in a bulk material comprising two opposing tunnel sections arranged such that a bulk material stream flows between or through the tunnel sections. At least one of the tunnel sections has a lighting means configured for indirectly illuminating the bulk material stream. Furthermore, an optical detector receives the light emitted from the illuminated bulk material. The lighting means and optical detector are configured about the tunnel sections such that the optical radiation optical radiation does not pass directly from the lighting means to the bulk material, nor from the bulk material stream to the optical detector An evaluation apparatus, responsive to measured data from the optical detector, identifies impurities in the bulk material. The invention moreover relates to a method for operating such a device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: SIKORA AG
    Inventor: Klaus Bremer
  • Patent number: 11060930
    Abstract: The invention provides a glass surface stress meter and multiple-tempered glass surface stress meter, and the glass surface stress meter includes a light source (810, 910), a light refraction element (820, 920) and an imaging unit. The light refraction element (820, 920) is provided at a light-emitting direction of the light source (810, 910) for placing a measured glass (970). The light from the light source (810, 910) comes into the imaging unit to imaging after refracted by the light refractive element (820, 920). The imaging unit includes lens group (830, 940) and a imaging sensor (840, 960). A front end of the lens group is provided at the light-refraction direction of the light refraction element (820, 920) and a back-end is provided with the imaging sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Suzhou PTC Optical Instrument Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Xiuxin Shang, Xudong Wang, Xiupu Wang, Fei Yan, Xiang Tang, You Wang
  • Patent number: 11041760
    Abstract: In multiplex CARS, a fingerprint region is a region where signals are densely concentrated. Information about the intensities and spatial distribution of these signals is important in cell analysis. However, there has been a problem in that the signal intensities are low. Accordingly, mechanisms 702 and 703 for adjusting the power branching ratio between light that enters a photonic crystal fiber 705 and pumping light; mechanisms 710 and 711 for adjusting the divergence/convergence state of the pumping light; and mechanisms 706 and 2101 for adjusting the divergence/convergence state of Stokes light are provided to enable adjustment for emphasizing a desired wavelength band.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATION
    Inventors: Manabu Shiozawa, Koichi Watanabe, Masataka Shirai
  • Patent number: 11029254
    Abstract: There are provided a welding monitoring system which can multidimensionally monitor a welding portion with high accuracy and a monitoring method thereof, by using a relatively simple configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryoji Nakagawa, Hisashi Endou, Hiroshi Yoshikawa, Toshihiro Yamada, Nobuhiro Kakeno
  • Patent number: 10992097
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises: an optical resonator including a surface; wherein a Bragg grating is formed at least part of the surface of the optical resonator; and wherein the Bragg grating has a Bragg frequency substantially equal to a center frequency of an Nth order Brillouin gain region capable of generating an Nth order Stokes signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Wade Puckett, Karl D. Nelson, Jianfeng Wu
  • Patent number: 10969862
    Abstract: An eye movement tracking device that can be mounted to standard eyeglasses as disclosed. The device comprises an illumination source, a time-of-flight (TOF) camera and a processor. The source transmits energy within a frequency band from a location proximate to an eye of a person, such that at least a first portion of the transmitted energy is reflected off a lens of eyewear worn by the person to subsequently reflect off the eye, and such that at least a second portion of the transmitted energy is transmitted through the lens to reflect off objects in the person's environment. The TOF camera detects reflections of at least the first portion of the transmitted energy, and distinguishes them from other energy detected by the TOF camera in said frequency band, based on TOF principles. The processor uses the detected reflections of the first portion of the transmitted energy to determine eye position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Giora Yahav, David Cohen, Sagi Katz
  • Patent number: 10921229
    Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method of particle size and concentration measurement that comprises the steps of: providing a focused, synthesized, structured laser beam, causing the beam to interact with the particles, measuring the interaction signal and the number of interactions per unit time of the beam with the particles, and using algorithms to map the interaction signals to the particle size and the number of interactions per unit time to the concentration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: PARTICLE MEASURING SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventor: Joseph Shamir
  • Patent number: 10898068
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising at least: a first waveguide; a second waveguide; and a diffractive element. The first waveguide guides a first band of onto the diffractive element such that the first band is diffracted at an mth non-zero order over a first range of angles. The second waveguide guides a second band onto the diffractive element such that the second band is diffracted at the mth non-zero over the first range of angles. The second waveguide guides a third band onto the diffractive element such that the third band is diffracted at the nth non-zero order over the first range of angles. Wavelengths of the first band, the second band, and the third band do not overlap with each other. The mth order and the nth order are different from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignees: Canon U.S.A., Inc., The General Hospital Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuhiro Ikuta, Guillermo J. Tearney, Dongkyun Kang, Dukho Do
  • Patent number: 10540571
    Abstract: Embodiments of an active or laser polarimeter are disclosed that transmit multiple independent and tunable temporally-multiplexed polarization states and record or image, at video rates if necessary, the polarized intensity or irradiance reflected or transmitted by objects illuminated by those states, and apply the recorded data to material and/or object classification and recognition using classification algorithms that exploit features of polarization signatures dependent on material type, texture, and/or object shape. The polarimeter also generally records and utilizes one or more passive polarization measurements in order to realize a hybrid active-passive polarimeter. The polarimeter channels are configured and tuned to access multi-dimensional signature spaces specified by existing signature models and/or measurements, with polarization-modulator settings derived by a newly-disclosed subspace-projection algorithm that maximizes a target contrast parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: ADVANCED OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Brian G. Hoover, Pablo A. Reyes, David E. Taliaferro, Virgil N. Kohlhepp, III