Patents by Inventor John A. Dickinson

John A. Dickinson 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: 20170220662
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2017
    Publication date: August 3, 2017
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Publication number: 20170209664
    Abstract: A breathing assistance unit for providing pressurized heated humidified air to a user is configured to increase user compliance. The breathing assistance unit comprises means for generating positive emotional and cognitive states of a user about the therapy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2017
    Publication date: July 27, 2017
    Inventors: Venkata Subbarao Potharaju, Christie Jayne Stanton, Andrew Paul Maxwell Salmon, Yi-Cheng Sun, Hayden Owen Briscoe, Samuel Frew, Steven John Worthington, Philip John Dickinson, Cameron Jon Haxton, Robin Lynn Randolph
  • Publication number: 20170173521
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for treating an exhaust gas in a foreline of a substrate processing system are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method for treating an exhaust gas in an exhaust conduit of a substrate processing system includes: flowing an exhaust gas and a reagent gas into an exhaust conduit of a substrate processing system; injecting a non-reactive gas into the exhaust conduit to maintain a desired pressure in the exhaust conduit for conversion of the exhaust gas; and forming a plasma from the exhaust gas and reagent gas, subsequent to injecting the non-reactive gas, to convert the exhaust gas to abatable byproduct gases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2017
    Publication date: June 22, 2017
    Inventors: Colin John DICKINSON, Mehran MOALEM, Daniel O. CLARK
  • Patent number: 9649592
    Abstract: A plasma abatement process for abating effluent containing compounds from a processing chamber is described. A plasma abatement process takes gaseous foreline effluent from a processing chamber, such as a deposition chamber, and reacts the effluent within a plasma chamber placed in the foreline path. The plasma dissociates the compounds within the effluent, converting the effluent into more benign compounds. Abating reagents may assist in the abating of the compounds. The abatement process may be a volatizing or a condensing abatement process. Representative volatilizing abating reagents include, for example, CH4, H2O, H2, NF3, SF6, F2, HCl, HF, Cl2, and HBr. Representative condensing abating reagents include, for example, H2, H2O, O2, N2, O3, CO, CO2, NH3, N2O, CH4, and combinations thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Michael S. Cox, Monique McIntosh, Colin John Dickinson, Paul E. Fisher, Yutaka Tanaka, Zheng Yuan
  • Publication number: 20170133208
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a method for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The method includes energizing an abating agent, forming a composition by reacting the energized abating agent with gases exiting a vacuum processing chamber, and flowing the composition through a plurality of holes formed in a cooling plate. By cooling the composition with the cooling plate, damages on the downstream pump are avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2017
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Inventors: Michael S. COX, Rongping WANG, Brian T. WEST, Roger M. JOHNSON, Colin John DICKINSON
  • Patent number: 9626420
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Patent number: 9617852
    Abstract: Methods and equipment have been developed that combine the use of continuous miners, flexible conveyor trains, and longwall mining techniques to provide flexible and efficient removal of resources from subterranean formations. Some systems include: a main gate; and a tailgate connected to the maingate by an active mine face; wherein the active mine face extends at an angle between 95° and 135° relative to the maingate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Seneca Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Myers, Michael Cline, John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9597634
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for treating an exhaust gas in a foreline of a substrate processing system are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for treating an exhaust gas in a foreline of a substrate processing system includes a plasma source coupled to a foreline of a process chamber, a reagent source coupled to the foreline upstream of the plasma source, and a foreline gas injection kit coupled to the foreline to controllably deliver a gas to the foreline, wherein the foreline injection kit includes a pressure regulator to set a foreline gas delivery pressure setpoint, and a first pressure gauge coupled to monitor a delivery pressure of the gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Colin John Dickinson, Mehran Moalem, Daniel O. Clark
  • Patent number: 9596973
    Abstract: An auxiliary grey water supply device captures used wash water from a commercial warewashing machine for supply to a pre-rinse station without substantial modification of the commercial warewashing machine. The captured wash water is delivered to a pre-rinse station for pre-rinsing of dishes that will be washed within the commercial warewashing machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Seven Hour Drive, LLC
    Inventors: Eduardo Yong Lee, Daniel John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9584439
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a cloud computing system provides user extensibility by providing a plugin interface for major systems. Plugin interfaces for a compute service, object service, network service, authentication and authorization service, message service, and image service are disclosed. One or more of the plugin interfaces can be used to alter the allocation of virtual to physical resources across multiple services. Compound services and smart allocation facilities are possible with user-directed modification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward Leafe, Alexander Walsh, Paul Voccio, Antony Joel Messerli, Charles B. Thier, John A. Dickinson, Gregory Lee Holt, Christopher James Behrens, Trey Eugene Morris, Matthew Charles Dietz, Jason LuVern Kolker, Ziad Sawalha, Yogeshwar Srikrishan, William Randolph Mathews, Vishvananda Ishaya
  • Patent number: 9579480
    Abstract: A breathing assistance unit for providing pressurized heated humidified air to a user increases user compliance. The breathing assistance unit generates positive emotional and cognitive states of a user about the therapy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited
    Inventors: Venkata Subbarao Potharaju, Christie Jayne Stanton, Andrew Paul Maxwell Simon, Yi-Cheng Sun, Hayden Owen Briscoe, Samuel Frew, Steven John Worthington, Philip John Dickinson, Cameron Jon Haxton, Robin Lynn Randolph
  • Publication number: 20170033369
    Abstract: A catalyst layer including: (i) a platinum-containing electrocatalyst; (ii) an oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst; (iii) one or more carbonaceous materials selected from the group consisting of graphite, nanofibres, nanotubes, nanographene platelets and low surface area, heat-treated carbon blacks wherein the one or more carbonaceous materials do not support the platinum-containing electrocatalyst; and (iv) a proton-conducting polymer and its use in an electrochemical device are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Sarah Louise BURTON, Angus John DICKINSON, Julie O'SULLIVAN
  • Patent number: 9552967
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include an abatement system for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The abatement system includes a plasma source that has a first plate and a second plate parallel to the first plate. An electrode is disposed between the first and second plates and an outer wall is disposed between the first and second plates surrounding the electrode. The plasma source has a first plurality of magnets disposed on the first plate and a second plurality of magnets disposed on the second plate. The magnetic field created by the first and second plurality of magnets is substantially perpendicular to the electric field created between the electrode and the outer wall. In this configuration, a dense plasma is created.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Michael S. Cox, Rongping Wang, Brian T. West, Roger M. Johnson, Colin John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20170011078
    Abstract: A technique is applied to eventually converge on a single data storage strategy for any set of object data which had an inconsistent data storage strategy applied during storage while there was a network partition. This state could occur in instances of a highly available distributed object storage system which can store objects according to multiple data storage strategies. Upon the healing of a network partition, the technique discovers if multiple data storage strategies were applied to the object data stored during a network partition, deterministically identifies which data storage strategy represents the correct strategy, for example based on the log of state transitions requested by the client according to the API contract, and ensures that this strategy is consistently applied to all object data in the collection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2015
    Publication date: January 12, 2017
    Inventors: Clay GERRARD, Paul LUSE, Samuel MERRITT, John DICKINSON
  • Patent number: 9543124
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a plasma source for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The plasma source has a first plate and a second plate parallel to the first plate. An electrode is disposed between the first and second plates and an outer wall is disposed between the first and second plates surrounding the cylindrical electrode. The plasma source has a first plurality of magnets disposed on the first plate and a second plurality of magnets disposed on the second plate. The magnetic field created by the first and second plurality of magnets is substantially perpendicular to the electric field created between the electrode and the outer wall. In this configuration, a dense plasma is created.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Michael S. Cox, Rongping Wang, Brian T. West, Roger M. Johnson, Colin John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160378846
    Abstract: Methods and systems to configure an object-based storage cluster with multiple selectable data handling policies, including to map an object to a storage device/node of the cluster based on the policy associated with the object. In an embodiment, each policy is associated with a respective one of multiple rings, partitions of which are mapped to storage devices of the same cluster, objects are associated with buckets/containers, and each bucket/container is associated within a user-selectable one of the policies, such as with a metadata-based policy index, and an object is mapped to a storage device/node of the cluster based on the ring associated with the policy index of the object's container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2015
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Applicant: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Paul E. Luse, John Dickinson, Clay Gerrard, Samuel Merritt
  • Publication number: 20160289789
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an electromagnetic sensor (400) for detecting a microstructure of a metal target, comprising: a magnetic device (410, 420) for providing an excitation magnetic field; a magnetometer (430) for detecting a resultant magnetic field induced in a metal target; and a calibration circuit (450, 551, 552, 553, 554) for generating a calibration magnetic field for calibrating the electromagnetic sensor, wherein the calibration reference magnetic field is generated by an electrical current induced in the calibration circuit by the excitation magnetic field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2016
    Publication date: October 6, 2016
    Inventors: Anthony Joseph Peyton, Wuliang Yin, Stephen John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160276179
    Abstract: Embodiments enclosed herein relate to methods and apparatus for reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced during processing, such as during semiconductor fabrication processing. A processing system may include an abatement controller and an effluent abatement system, wherein the abatement controller controls the effluent abatement system to reduce NOx production, while ensuring abatement of the effluent gases from the processing system. The effluent abatement system may include a combustion-type effluent abatement system and/or a plasma-type effluent abatement system. The abatement controller may select operating modes of the effluent abatement systems to reduce NOx production.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Inventors: Paul E. Fisher, Monique McIntosh, Andrew Herbert, Colin John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9404992
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an electromagnetic sensor (400) for detecting a microstructure of a metal target, comprising: a magnetic device (410, 420) for providing an excitation magnetic field; a magnetometer (430) for detecting a resultant magnetic field induced in a metal target; and a calibration circuit (450, 551, 552, 553, 554) for generating a calibration magnetic field for calibrating the electromagnetic sensor, wherein the calibration reference magnetic field is generated by an electrical current induced in the calibration circuit by the excitation magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
    Inventors: Anthony Joseph Peyton, Wuliang Yin, Stephen John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160197996
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Applicant: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt