Patents by Inventor John T. Griffin

John T. Griffin 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: 20020181244
    Abstract: A headlamp system for a motor vehicle for providing increased visibility to a driver of the vehicle when the vehicle is in a moisture-laden atmosphere. The system includes at least one headlamp adapted to produce a beam of illuminating light and a shield mounted for placement adjacent to said at least one headlamp. The headlamp is selectively movable between a first position in which it is recessed into the body of the vehicle and a second position in which it projects in front of the body of the vehicle to permit the shield to deflect at least a portion of the beam of illuminating light emitted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2002
    Publication date: December 5, 2002
    Inventor: John T. Griffin
  • Patent number: 6462479
    Abstract: The headlamp system provides a reduced amount of illumination adjacent a driver's line of sight while providing a maintained or increased level of illumination from a source that is offset from the driver's line of sight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2002
    Inventor: John T. Griffin
  • Publication number: 20020096997
    Abstract: The headlamp system of the present invention provides a reduced amount of illumination adjacent a driver's line of sight while providing a maintained or increased level of illumination from a source that is offset from the driver's line of sight.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2001
    Publication date: July 25, 2002
    Inventor: John T. Griffin
  • Patent number: 6208737
    Abstract: A novel method and apparatus for scrambling a television signal includes using a synchronization separator to separate a synchronization signal from an input audio-visual signal. The synchronization signal is then used to regulate an oscillator producing an audio carrier signal. In this manner, the audio-visual signal is transmitted without the component synchronization signal rendering it useless to a conventional television receiver. The descrambler and descrambling method of the invention involve removing the audio carrier signal from the scrambled signal and using the audio carrier signal to generate the color sub-carrier signal and a vertical time frame reference signal necessary to synchronize the transmitted audio visual signal for display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2001
    Assignee: General Instruments Corporation
    Inventor: John T. Griffin
  • Patent number: 5606612
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for scrambling an original analog video signal samples predetermined portions of the original video signal at a first rate and stores the sampled portions of the original video signal within a memory device. The stored video signal is read out of the memory device at a second rate, which is less than the first rate, to produce a time expanded scrambled video signal. A predetermined code is inserted into the time expanded scrambled video signal which is then converted into an analog scrambled video signal and transmitted through a channel. A method and apparatus for descrambling the scrambled video signal to produce a reconstructed video signal samples the scrambled video signal at the second rate, stores the sampled scrambled video signal into a memory and reads the sampled scrambled video signal out of the memory at the first rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1997
    Assignee: General Instrument Corporation, Jerrold Communications Division
    Inventors: John T. Griffin, David Grubb, III, Jeffrey S. Hamilton
  • Patent number: 5321748
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for scrambling video signals to obtain the secure transmission of video information. A block of video lines in a television raster is divided into top and bottom sub-block portions. The top and bottom sub-block portions are switched in position. The sequence of video lines within the sub-blocks are shuffled so that the resulting scrambled video signal contains blocks of video lines which have been block portion switched and shuffled from their original block portion position and their original line sequences. The size of the first block of video lines can grow and/or shrink in time so that the video appears to roll down or up the display. A pseudo-random number of sequence controls the shuffling sequence. A descrambler receives the scrambled video signal and a code identifying the shuffling sequence of the scrambled video for descrambling the video signal and returning the block portions and the video lines to their original sequences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 1992
    Date of Patent: June 14, 1994
    Assignee: General Instrument Corporation, Jerrold Communications
    Inventors: David E. Zeidler, John T. Griffin