Patents by Inventor Ulrich Hafele

Ulrich Hafele 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: 8606535
    Abstract: The invention describes a method for temperature compensation of measured pressure values in a tire pressure control system of a vehicle, which is equipped with wheels with pneumatic tires in which a pressure sensor arranged below the tire obtains the pressure values and a temperature sensor arranged below the tire obtains temperature values and the measured pressure values are referred to a predefined reference temperature, giving due consideration to the known proportionality between the pressure and the temperature at a volume of air in the tire which is assumed to be constant. The invention provides that an offset of the temperature supplied by the temperature sensor from the mean air temperature prevailing in the tire is estimated for the temperatures measured at any time in the tire, and the currently measured temperature values are corrected using the estimated temperature offset as a correction value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Inventors: Ulrich Häfele, Michael Dennig
  • Patent number: 8035500
    Abstract: Allocating first transmitters of a tire monitoring system, especially of a tire-pressure monitoring system having a wheel unit comprising a sensor, a first transmitter, which can be triggered, and a sending antenna on each of N wheels arranged on L axles of a vehicle according to a predetermined axle formula, further having receiving antenna on the vehicle body associated to the first transmitters and an electronic receiver and evaluation system, connected to receiving antenna by allocating an identifier characteristic of a particular wheel to its respective first transmitter, by emitting data telegrams, which contain the identifier, in response to a triggering action of second transmitters, and passing on such data telegrams to the central electronic receiver and evaluation system. The number n of the trigger transmitters is smaller than the number A of the axle positions, that each axle position is associated to a triggering range of n trigger transmitters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: BERU Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ulrich Häfele, Mark Braun
  • Publication number: 20070073503
    Abstract: The invention describes a method for temperature compensation of measured pressure values in a tire pressure control system of a vehicle, which is equipped with wheels with pneumatic tires in which a pressure sensor arranged below the tire obtains the pressure values and a temperature sensor arranged below the tire obtains temperature values and the measured pressure values are referred to a predefined reference temperature, giving due consideration to the known proportionality between the pressure and the temperature at a volume of air in the tire which is assumed to be constant. The invention provides that an offset of the temperature supplied by the temperature sensor from the mean air temperature prevailing in the tire is estimated for the temperatures measured at any time in the tire, and the currently measured temperature values are corrected using the estimated temperature offset as a correction value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2006
    Publication date: March 29, 2007
    Inventors: Ulrich Hafele, Michael Dennig
  • Publication number: 20060001535
    Abstract: A method for allocating first transmitters of a tire monitoring system, especially of a tire-pressure monitoring system having a wheel unit comprising a sensor, a first transmitter, which can be triggered, and a sending antenna on each of N wheels arranged on L axles of a vehicle according to a predetermined axle formula, further having at least one receiving antenna on the vehicle body associated to the first transmitters and an electronic receiver and evaluation system, connected to the at least one receiving antenna by allocating an identifier characteristic of a particular wheel to its respective first transmitter, by emitting data telegrams, which contain the identifier, in response to a triggering action of second transmitters which serve as trigger transmitters, and by passing on such data telegrams to the central electronic receiver and evaluation system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2005
    Publication date: January 5, 2006
    Inventors: Ulrich Hafele, Mark Braun
  • Patent number: 5926213
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for correcting the tone of color pictures recorded by a video camera, in particular an endoscope camera. A control device, which may also be part of a digital video camera, comprises a memory for storing a table which indicates a characteristic adjusting curve for tone correction values. The control device may further comprise an interface for inputting one or more characteristic adjusting curves according to the field of application of the device according to the invention. A simple rotary transducer which is connected via a lead to a control device serves as the input medium for the tone correction. After activating an automatic white balancing by way of a key connected to the control device, the correction values lies at the white point. The white point is always located on the adjusting curve and serves as a starting point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 20, 1999
    Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH
    Inventors: Ulrich Hafele, Michael Vogele, Jean-Pierre Heinrichs
  • Patent number: 5867284
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device for correcting the tone of color pictures recorded by a video camera, in particular an endoscope camera. A control device works in combination with a preferably triangular keyboard so that a free tone correction of the three ground colors of the video picture may be effected independently of the color temperature of the recorded object, i.e. in particular, independently of the light source employed. The switching surface is in the form of a surface PAD keyboard which allows the evaluation of the location of a finger tip or likewise at any position on the triangle, and thus represents a very effective input medium for the tone correction according to the invention. A similarly provided automatic white balancing function permits the white point of the camera color space to lie in the surface center of the surface PAD keyboard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH
    Inventors: Jean-Pierre Heinrichs, Michael Vogele, Ulrich Hafele
  • Patent number: 5570129
    Abstract: The color quality of a received color picture signal is detected by a device for measuring the intensity of at least the red component and the green component of the picture signal. A microprocessor determines a correction value for the white balance correction on the basis of the detected color quality and corresponding to selectable correction values, stored in a memory, for each color component. The method and apparatus permit an application specific correction of the white balance, particularly for use in endoscopic systems, such as video endoscopes and endoscope cameras, to be used in different body organs which cause different color shifts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 29, 1996
    Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH
    Inventors: Ulrich Hafele, Michael Vogele, Jean-Pierre Heinrichs
  • Patent number: 5430476
    Abstract: A device has a light source apparatus, which, as required, feeds white continuous light or sequential colored light by means of a filter device having several color surface regions and two filter discs which can be rotary driven, into a particular endoscope. One filter disc is provided with the color segments red, green and white and the other filter disc is provided with the color segments blue and white to achieve a simplified and structurally compact light source apparatus, both filter discs being arranged to be rotatable on a common rotary axis and adjustable relative to one another and fixable such that the white color segment of one filter disc covers the blue color segment of the other filter disc in a first operating position of the filter discs, and the white color segment of one filter disc is aligned to be axis-parallel with the white color segment of the other filter disc in a second operating position of the filter discs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1993
    Date of Patent: July 4, 1995
    Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH
    Inventors: Ulrich Hafele, Michael Vogele