Patents by Inventor Thomas Ruf

Thomas Ruf 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).

  • Patent number: 11640179
    Abstract: A method is provided for stabilizing an orientation and height of a person or load-carrying multicopter with a plurality of motors, wherein the drive of the individual motors in flight is continuously calculated by a flight control unit and correspondingly prescribed to the motors using control technology, for which purpose, based on a desired torque ?, of a desired thrust s preferably prescribed by a pilot signal, and of a motor matrix M, the drive of the motors is calculated by a motor allocation algorithm f and provided as a control signal to the motors, wherein the following applies to the drive and the corresponding motor control variables u: u=f(?, s, M).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: Volocopter GmbH
    Inventors: Jan Zwiener, Thomas Ruf, Walter Fichter, Johannes Stephan
  • Publication number: 20200241567
    Abstract: A method is provided for stabilizing an orientation and height of a person or load-carrying multicopter with a plurality of motors, wherein the drive of the individual motors in flight is continuously calculated by a flight control unit and correspondingly prescribed to the motors using control technology, for which purpose, based on a desired torque ?, of a desired thrust s preferably prescribed by a pilot signal, and of a motor matrix M, the drive of the motors is calculated by a motor allocation algorithm f and provided as a control signal to the motors, wherein the following applies to the drive and the corresponding manipulated motor variables u: u=f(?, s, M).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: Volocopter GmbH
    Inventors: Jan ZWIENER, Thomas RUF, Walter FICHTER, Johannes STEPHAN
  • Patent number: 9618939
    Abstract: A method and a system are provided for controlling an aircraft in the form of a multicopter which has a plurality of redundant rotors (4), preferably arranged in a common rotor plane, in order, on the one hand, to generate lift, and, on the other hand, also propulsion by inclining the at least one rotor plane, wherein the regulation of the position and the control of the multicopter are carried out by changing rotor rotational speeds as a function of pilot control instructions. The system is characterized in that the rotors (4) are connected to one another in terms of data technology via a failsafe network (8), and they communicate their respective operating state, in particular their rotor rotational speed, in the network (8), and in that the network contains a first multiplicity of redundant sensors which determine control-relevant data and make it available in the network, in particular inclination, acceleration, rotational speed and/or position in all three spatial axes of the multicopter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: e-volo GmbH
    Inventors: Stephan Wolf, Thomas Ruf
  • Publication number: 20150212523
    Abstract: A method and a system are provided for controlling an aircraft in the form of a multicopter which has a plurality of redundant rotors (4), preferably arranged in a common rotor plane, in order, on the one hand, to generate lift, and, on the other hand, also propulsion by inclining the at least one rotor plane, wherein the regulation of the position and the control of the multicopter are carried out by changing rotor rotational speeds as a function of pilot control instructions. The system is characterized in that the rotors (4) are connected to one another in terms of data technology via a failsafe network (8), and they communicate their respective operating state, in particular their rotor rotational speed, in the network (8), and in that the network contains a first multiplicity of redundant sensors which determine control-relevant data and make it available in the network, in particular inclination, acceleration, rotational speed and/or position in all three spatial axes of the multicopter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Inventors: Stephan Wolf, Thomas Ruf
  • Publication number: 20140304653
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for generating a set of optimal rules and parameters for use by an evaluation engine on a volume of information extracted from a stream of IP packets associated with a web browsing session conducted over a network in order to filter user-initiated traffic flowing across the network from non-user-initiated traffic. Deep packet inspection is performed to extract the volume of information from the stream that conforms to at least one discrimination criteria. An initial iteration of application of the evaluation engine to the volume is performed by selecting initial discrimination criteria and rules for generating the filtered results and a distance between the filtered results and known actual user-initiated traffic is measured. Subsequent iterations of application of the evaluation engine to the volume are performed by changing the discrimination criteria and/or rules until there is no significant improvement in the measured distance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Applicant: GfK US Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Bernhard Fischer-Wuenschel, Thomas Ruf, Renate Wendlik
  • Patent number: 8690581
    Abstract: An ophthalmoscope simulator for simulation and a method for simulation of the handling of an ophthalmoscope, having a support that can be attached to a head of an observer, at least one first imaging display disposed on said support, wherein the display can be placed in front of an eye of the observer for displaying a virtual reality, an ophthalmoscope dummy that can be supported by one hand of the observer, a position recognition system for determining the spatial position and/or orientation of the support and of the ophthalmoscope dummy and a computer for displaying an image of an environment, a patient head and/or at least a portion of the ophthalmoscope dummy on the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Vrmagic GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Ruf, Markus Schill, Clemens Wagner
  • Publication number: 20110091856
    Abstract: An ophthalmoscope simulator for simulation and a method for simulation of the handling of an ophthalmoscope, having a support that can be attached to a head of an observer, at least one first imaging display disposed on said support, wherein the display can be placed in front of an eye of the observer for displaying a virtual reality, an ophthalmoscope dummy that can be supported by one hand of the observer, a position recognition system for determining the spatial position and/or orientation of the support and of the ophthalmoscope dummy and a computer for displaying an image of an environment, a patient head and/or at least a portion of the ophthalmoscope dummy on the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2009
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: VRMAGIC GMBH
    Inventors: Thomas Ruf, Markus Schill, Clemens Wagner
  • Patent number: 7881185
    Abstract: A network device includes a first plurality of ports and a first plurality of communication links. Each port of the first plurality of ports communicates with a corresponding communication link of the first plurality of communication links. An adapter aggregates the first plurality communication links into a second plurality of aggregated links. The adaptor assigns a single media access control address to each aggregated link of the second plurality of aggregated links. A driver selects a first aggregated link of the second plurality of aggregated links as an active link based on a link quality of the first aggregated link. The driver sends and receives data over the first aggregated link using the single media access control address assigned to the first aggregated link. The driver selects a second aggregated link of the second plurality of aggregated links as the active link in response to the link quality of the first aggregated link being less than a link quality of the second aggregated link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael Karl, Thomas Ruf, Manfred Kunz, Joachim Schmalz
  • Patent number: 7529180
    Abstract: A network device, method and computer program product for communicating data over aggregated links, wherein each of the aggregated links comprises a plurality of data communication links. The network device comprises n ports; and a processor to determine a link quality for each of m of the aggregated links, wherein m?2, wherein each of the m aggregated links comprises a preselected plurality p of the n ports, select one of the m aggregated links based on the link quality determined for each of the m aggregated links, and send the data over the selected one of the m aggregated links.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael Karl, Thomas Ruf, Manfred Kunz, Joachim Schmalz