Patents by Inventor Daniel J. Trice

Daniel J. Trice has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240147584
    Abstract: An over-the-range cooking appliance for mounting to an underside of a wall cabinet, where the cooking appliance includes: an enclosure with a cooking cavity for food and where the enclosure includes at least a rear-facing side and a top-facing side; a wall bracket configured to be secured to the wall near the wall cabinet and configured to support the enclosure; and a cabinet bracket to support the enclosure from the underside of the wall cabinet. The cabinet bracket includes a first and second cooperating latch member, where the first cooperating latch member is mounted on the underside of the cabinet and the second cooperating latch member is mounted on the top-facing side of the enclosure. The cooperating latch members are respectively configured to latch to one another when the enclosure is supported on the wall bracket proximate the bottom of the rear-facing side thereof and tilted upwardly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2023
    Publication date: May 2, 2024
    Inventors: Eric Scalf, Brian Langness, Daniel J. Trice, Guo Jun Zhang, Jared Speichinger
  • Publication number: 20240108191
    Abstract: A beverage container washing system may be used for rapid washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, among other applications. Separate entrance and exit openings may be provided in some instances to minimize employee interaction with unwashed customer beverage containers, and a beverage container may be conveyed from the entrance opening to the exit opening past one or more stations using a holder that is capable of spinning the beverage container when the beverage container is disposed in at least one of the stations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2022
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Robert M. Digman
  • Publication number: 20240108163
    Abstract: A two dimensional brew selection interface is used to configure a plurality of brewing parameters used in a drip coffee brewing operation. The two dimensional brew selection interface may include a plurality of positions distributed across first and second dimensions, with each position mapped to a set of values for multiple brewing parameters such that selection of a position in the two dimensional brew selection interface enables the mapped values for the brewing parameters corresponding to the selected position to be used in the drip coffee brewing operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2022
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Inventors: Simon Fowler, Daniel J. Trice
  • Patent number: 11927278
    Abstract: A system for a two-step activation for a valve includes at least one valve control selector having an output representative of a valve position and a touch sensor having an output representative of a permission to operate said valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Richard W. Cowan, Nathan E. Nelson, Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20240080949
    Abstract: A microwave cooking appliance for increasing visibility into the cooking cavity. The microwave cooking appliance may include a door. The door may include a conductive mesh layer. The door may include a frame supporting the conductive mesh layer. The door may include a conductive and/or sealing engagement between the conductive mesh layer and the frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Brian Langness, Pierce Woodling
  • Publication number: 20240015861
    Abstract: A microwave cooking appliance for increasing visibility into the cooking cavity. The microwave cooking appliance may include a door. The door may include a conductive mesh layer. The door may include a frame supporting the conductive mesh layer. The door may include a conductive and/or sealing engagement between the conductive mesh layer and the frame. The door may include a leak detection device. The leak detection device may be adjacent the conductive and/or sealing engagement. The door may include a user interface display and/or a touch screen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2023
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Brian Langness, Pierce R. Woodling
  • Patent number: 11864296
    Abstract: An over-the-range cooking appliance for mounting to an underside of a wall cabinet, where the cooking appliance includes: an enclosure with a cooking cavity for food and where the enclosure includes at least a rear-facing side and a top-facing side; a wall bracket configured to be secured to the wall near the wall cabinet and configured to support the enclosure; and a cabinet bracket to support the enclosure from the underside of the wall cabinet. The cabinet bracket includes a first and second cooperating latch member, where the first cooperating latch member is mounted on the underside of the cabinet and the second cooperating latch member is mounted on the top-facing side of the enclosure. The cooperating latch members are respectively configured to latch to one another when the enclosure is supported on the wall bracket proximate the bottom of the rear-facing side thereof and tilted upwardly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eric Scalf, Brian Langness, Daniel J. Trice, Guo Jun Zhang, Jared Speichinger
  • Publication number: 20230404260
    Abstract: A mounting bracket assembly for an appliance, such as an over-the-range cooking appliance, for mounting to an underside of a wall cabinet, where the cooking appliance includes having at least a rear-facing side and a top-facing side. The assembly includes a wall bracket configured to be secured to the wall near the wall cabinet and configured to support the enclosure on a ledge. The assembly also includes a cam rotatably mounted to the housing to rotatably engage a surface of the ledge to raise the appliance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2023
    Publication date: December 21, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Brian Langness
  • Patent number: 11849526
    Abstract: A microwave cooking appliance for increasing visibility into the cooking cavity. The microwave cooking appliance may include a door. The door may include a conductive mesh layer. The door may include a frame supporting the conductive mesh layer. The door may include a conductive and/or sealing engagement between the conductive mesh layer and the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Brian Langness, Pierce Woodling
  • Patent number: 11770882
    Abstract: A microwave cooking appliance for increasing visibility into the cooking cavity. The microwave cooking appliance may include a door. The door may include a conductive mesh layer. The door may include a frame supporting the conductive mesh layer. The door may include a conductive and/or sealing engagement between the conductive mesh layer and the frame. The door may include a leak detection device. The leak detection device may be adjacent the conductive and/or sealing engagement. The door may include a user interface display and/or a touch screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Brian Langness, Pierce Woodling
  • Patent number: 11765796
    Abstract: A microwave cooking appliance for increasing visibility into the cooking cavity. The microwave cooking appliance may include a door. The door may include a conductive mesh layer. The door may include a frame supporting the conductive mesh layer. The door may include a conductive and/or sealing engagement between the conductive mesh layer and the frame. The door may include a leak detection device. The leak detection device may be adjacent the conductive and/or sealing engagement. The door may include a user interface display and/or a touch screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Guo Jun Zhang, Brian Langness, Daniel J. Trice, Pierce Woodling
  • Patent number: 11754291
    Abstract: A cooking appliance including an oven compartment, and first and second gas burners positioned to supply heat to the oven compartment. The first and second gas burners respectively include first and second electromechanical modulating valves that respectively couple the first and second gas burners to a gas supply. A controller is used to control the first and second gas burners to heat the oven compartment, and the controller, when maintaining a predetermined temperature in the oven compartment, controls the electromechanical modulating valves of the first and second gas burners to vary respective output levels of the first and second gas burners while maintaining a substantially constant combined output level for the first and second gas burners.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Richard W. Cowan, Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20230243440
    Abstract: A system for a two-step activation for a valve includes at least one valve control selector having an output representative of a valve position and a touch sensor having an output representative of a permission to operate said valve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2023
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Richard W. Cowan, Nathan E. Nelson, Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20230112411
    Abstract: A beverage container washing system may be used for rapid washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, among other applications. Separate entrance and exit openings may be provided in some instances to minimize employee interaction with unwashed customer beverage containers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2021
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Inventors: Robert M. Digman, Daniel J. Trice, Joel Boyer, John Kenneth Hooker, Bassam Fawaz
  • Patent number: 11619321
    Abstract: A system for a two-step activation for a valve includes at least one valve control selector having an output representative of a valve position and a touch sensor having an output representative of a permission to operate said valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Richard W. Cowan, Nathan E. Nelson, Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20230097782
    Abstract: A beverage container washing system may be used for rapid washing and/or sanitizing of beverage containers, e.g., for use in a retail environment to wash and/or sanitize customer-provided beverage containers prior to filling the beverage containers with purchased beverages, among other applications. The beverage container washing system may include a holder that utilizes a base that supports a beverage container in an inverted orientation and a retainer that supports a sidewall of the beverage container and includes a lateral opening through which the beverage container may be passed during insertion into and/or removal from the holder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2021
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Inventors: Daniel J. Trice, Robert M. Digman, Eric Scalf
  • Patent number: 11592186
    Abstract: A cooking appliance and system therefor utilize a burner group capable of operating in multiple modes such that gas cooktop burners disposed in the burner group may be collectively or individually controlled in different modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: MIDEA GROUP CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Richard W. Cowan, Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20220400850
    Abstract: A bracket for mounting an over-the-range cooking appliance that can be secured to a wall and support a cooking appliance. The bracket including a bracket body with top and rear portions, where the rear portion is secured to the wall so that the top portion is proximate an upper cabinet. The bracket further including a vent opening to engage an exhaust of the cooking appliance, and an integrated drill guide on the top portion of the bracket to align a drill bit for drilling an opening through the upper cabinet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2021
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventor: Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20220404031
    Abstract: A bracket for mounting an over-the-range cooking appliance, where the bracket includes: a bracket body adapted to be secured to a wall and support a cooking appliance, the bracket body further including a vent opening to engage an exhaust of the cooking appliance; an exhaust adaptor, where the exhaust adaptor further includes: a first side and a second side, and the first side is located opposing the second side with a through opening; where the second side of the exhaust adaptor is adapted to engage an external vent; and when the first side of the exhaust adaptor is engaged with the bracket body at the vent opening, there is fluid communication between the vent opening and the exhaust adaptor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2021
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventor: Daniel J. Trice
  • Publication number: 20220404015
    Abstract: A system for controlling digital gas valves of an appliance utilizing a configurable duty cycle that includes a configurable ON time, a configurable cycle period and one or more configurable burner power level variables. In some instances, the configurable duty cycle may be configured at least in part by operation of a control knob, and in some instances, multiple burner power levels may be specified such that cycling may be performed between multiple burner power levels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2022
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventors: Richard W. Cowan, Daniel J. Trice