Patents Represented by Attorney Brooks & Kushman
  • Patent number: 8348484
    Abstract: A vehicle exterior lamp includes an optical structure defining a plurality of geometric indicia, and a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for emitting light. Light emitted by the LEDs is directed towards the optical structure, to interact with the optical structure, and exit the exterior lamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: William Chaterlea, Jeffrey Nield
  • Patent number: 8351931
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for roaming retry under pre-paging mode. The method comprises the following steps of: during a pre-paging period, a called Mobile Station (MS) moving to a new location area and sending a location update request to a new Visitor Mobile Switching Center/Visitor Location Register (New VMSC/VLR); after receiving the location update request, the New VMSC/VLR sending a location area update message to a Home Location Register (HLR); after receiving the location area update message, the HLR sending a Send Routing Information (SRI) Ack message including a Roaming Retry Indication identifier to a to a Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC); after receiving the SRI Ack message, the GMSC triggering a roaming retry procedure according to the Roaming Retry Indication identifier, and completing the subsequent calling flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: ZTE Corporation
    Inventors: Bo Yang, Yazhou Kong
  • Patent number: 8352278
    Abstract: A system for monitoring hands-free accessibility of media items for play at a vehicle includes a vehicle entertainment computing system (VECS) configured to receive predetermined rules for voice-activated access of the media items. Violations of the rules are detected based on media item metadata. If a violation is detected, a prompt is outputted. Media items are retrieved and played based on voice-activated requests. One embodiment includes a method for monitoring hands-free accessibility of media items for play at a vehicle. A system for formatting media items for accessibility at a VECS includes a media item incompatibility resolution system (MIIRS) configured to resolve violations of the predetermined rules by receiving additional rules relating to formatting violating media items. The media items are searched and the violations addressed by reformatting the media items for voice-activated access. The media items are outputted to the MIIRS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Jeffrey Raymond Ostrowski, Julius Marchwicki, Darren Peter Shelcusky, Matthew Scott Bourdua
  • Patent number: 8348043
    Abstract: An apparatus having a bill validator. The apparatus having a storage area within a housing. The bill validator operable to input bills into the storage area. The bill validator being removable secured within the housing. The removable bill validator permitting the bill validator to be removed from the housing for servicing without comprising security of the storage area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Fire King Security Products, LLC
    Inventor: Mike Smith
  • Patent number: 8352186
    Abstract: An efficient route-defining method includes determining a route to a destination. The exemplary method also includes determining a wireless device to server connection type and assigning a tolerance in accordance with a connection type. The tolerance is usable to determine if a vehicle is off-route, and the tolerance is increased or decreased inversely corresponding to the speed of the connection type. According to the illustrative method, the assigned tolerance is used to determine points defining the route, such that the roads comprising the route are within a bounded area. The bounded area may be defined by the tolerance in conjunction with a plurality of lines connecting successive points along the route. Finally, the method includes delivering the determined points to a vehicle computing system in communication with the server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Mark Schunder, Mark Scalf, Joseph J. Berry
  • Patent number: 8351465
    Abstract: A layered operating system architecture enables decoupling of a media access control (MAC) layer from a physical (PHY) layer. The decoupled MAC and PHY layer removes responsibility from the MAC layer with respect to understanding network resources, network space and network scheduling and allocation demands when processing data for transport over a network. The MAC layer may instead operate according to an allocation scheduled provided by a convergence layer responsible for understanding the varying conditions and demand attendant to supporting communications over the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Luis Alberto Campos, Jennifer Andreoli-Fang
  • Patent number: 8350431
    Abstract: A permanent magnet electric machine with optimum motoring efficiency is disclosed. It is adapted for use in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain. An asymmetric magnetic flux distribution pattern in the rotor of the machine is established by asymmetrically positioning rotor openings relative to rotor magnets to improve operating efficiency of the machine when it is in a motoring mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Feng Liang, Michael W. Degner, Alfredo R. Munoz
  • Patent number: 8347853
    Abstract: A method of forming a bowl in a top surface of a piston for an internal combustion engine includes machining the top surface of the piston to form a spherical depression in the top surface wherein the top surface comprises a dome prior to the machining and a center of the bowl is displaced from a center of the piston by at least one-quarter of a diameter of the piston. In one embodiment, the method includes machining recesses in the top surface aligned, respectively, with intake valves, an exhaust valve, and spark plug when installed. Because the bowl is smooth and shallow, the surface area of the combustion chamber is less than with a deeper bowl of complicated shape. Lowering surface area in the combustion chamber leads to improved fuel economy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Zheng Xu, Jianwen James Yi, Steven Wooldridge, David Bruce Reiche, Neal James Corey, Stephen George Russ, Steven Paul Penkevich, Claudia Olivia Iyer
  • Patent number: 8347442
    Abstract: A barbeque grill cleaning device including a soaking container, in which the grill may be submerged in a cleaning liquid, and a rotary scrubbing head for scrubbing the grill while positioned in the soaking container. The barbeque grill cleaning device includes: a container defining a cavity shaped and sized for receiving a barbeque grill therein; and a scrubbing head for scrubbing the barbeque grill, the scrubbing head is rotatable relative to the container; such that the cleaning of the barbeque grill is aided by a scrubbing action as a result of contact between the barbeque grill and the rotating scrubbing head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Inventor: Bernard Micael Peacocke
  • Patent number: 8348850
    Abstract: A method of detecting a dislodged needle in a hemodialysis procedure includes measuring venous drip pressure of the dialysis machine of a patient undergoing hemodialysis, analyzing the venous drip pressure and deriving intravascular blood pressure at a location of venous needle insertion into the patient, comparing the derived intravascular blood pressure to a standard, repeating the measuring, analyzing and deriving, and comparing steps and, if the intravascular blood pressure is within a specified range of the standard, determining that a needle has been dislodged in the hemodialysis procedure. A method of alerting the patient and medical personnel of a dislodged needle in a hemodialysis procedure includes detecting a drop in intravascular pressure derived from measured venous drip pressure, determining that a needle is dislodged, and alerting medical personnel of the dislodged needle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Henry Ford Health System
    Inventors: Stanley Frinak, Gerard Zasuwa, Jerry Yee, Anatole Besarab
  • Patent number: 8347872
    Abstract: A battery operated concrete saw system (10) includes an electric saw (12) and a battery pack cart (14) as well as an electrical cord (62) for facilitating cutting in small places with a battery pack cart at a remote location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Inventor: Francis M. Gobright, IV
  • Patent number: 8348347
    Abstract: A vehicle head restraint assembly is provided with a cross member. A head restraint is supported by the cross member. A fixed locking member is mounted within the head restraint. A latch is moveably mounted on the cross member at a first latch position and at a second latch position. An actuator is mounted within the head restraint to move the latch between the first latch position and the second latch position. The head restraint is pivotable when the latch is in the second latch position. Another vehicle head restraint assembly is provided with a lateral support rod and a head restraint pivotally mounted thereon. A locking member is pivotally mounted within the head restraint. A latch is mounted on the support rod. An actuator disengages the locking member from the latch. A biasing member pivots the head restraint upon disengagement of the latch and the locking member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Lear Corporation
    Inventors: Scott A. Willard, Arjun Yetukuri, Eric Veine, Sai Prasad Jammalamadaka, Paul Castellani, Gerald S. Locke
  • Patent number: 8342420
    Abstract: The plastic structural article includes an elongated tubular shell having opposed end sections, a middle section therebetween and an interior cavity. The interior cavity has a foam core situated therein. The foam core comprises steam expandable polymer beads which when expanded substantially fill the interior cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Inventor: Richard W. Roberts, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8344549
    Abstract: A photovoltaic power system includes module strings each having photovoltaic modules connected in series. The power system further includes a generator terminal box having DC converters. The power system further includes a generator main connection line and an AC inverter. Each module string is electrically connected to a respective one of the DC converters for the module string to provide a DC voltage generated by the photovoltaic modules of the module string to the respective DC converter. The DC converters output a combined DC voltage based on the DC voltages from the module strings to the AC inverter via the generator main connection line for the AC inverter to transform the combined DC voltage into an AC voltage. The generator terminal box and the AC converter are spatially separate from one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Kostal Industrie Elektrik GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Loh, Frank Landwehr
  • Patent number: 8344867
    Abstract: A system and method for activating a safety system when a vehicle may be involved in a spin, roll, and/or a spin-to-roll condition. The system and method include determining a side slip angle of the vehicle using the arctangent of the ratio of a lateral and longitudinal velocity. The system and method also include receiving a roll rate signal and determining a roll angle using the roll rate signal. The system and method also include determining a roll warning threshold that is a function of a relationship between the roll rate signal and the roll angle. Lastly, the system and method include activating the safety system when a side slip angle threshold and/or the roll warning threshold are exceeded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Jialiang Le, Todd Clark, Manoharprasad K. Rao
  • Patent number: 8342893
    Abstract: An electrical terminal operable to facilitate electrical connectivity between the terminal and an electrical connector. The electrical terminal may include a conducting element, such as but not limited to a coil spring, within a open end used to connect to an electrically conducting connector. The conducting element may facilitate electrical connectivity between the inserted connector and the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Lear Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Glick, Slobodan Pavlovic, Cecil Lamar Brown, II
  • Patent number: 8344033
    Abstract: The invention relates to water-in-oil (W/O) or oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions containing an oil phase of at least one water-insoluble constituent; an aqueous phase; pyrogenic silica at the oil-water interface, the pyrogenic silica partially silylated such that non-silylated surface silanol groups remaining are between 95% and 5% of initial silanol groups, the equivalent of 1.7 to 0.1 surface SiOH groups per nm2, a surface energy gamma-s-D of 30 to 80 mJ/m2, and a specific BET surface area between 30 and 500 m2/g; and optionally other substances, such as pigments or preservatives. The inventive emulsions have a mean particle size of the dispersed phase, of between 0.5 ?m and 500 ?m, and are of low viscosity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Wacker Chemie AG
    Inventors: Torsten Gottschalk-Gaudig, Herbert Barthel, Bernard Paul Binks, Tommy S. Horozov
  • Patent number: 8343618
    Abstract: A silicon wafer in which both occurrences of slip dislocation and warpage are suppressed in device manufacturing processes is a silicon wafer having BMDs having an octahedral shape, wherein BMDs located at a position below the silicon wafer surface to a depth of 20 ?m and having a diagonal length of 200 nm or more are present at a concentration of ?2×109/cm3, and BMDs located at a position below a depth ?50 ?m have a diagonal length of ?10 nm to ?50 nm and a concentration of ?1×1012/cm3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Siltronic AG
    Inventors: Masayuki Fukuda, Katsuhiko Nakai
  • Patent number: 8346381
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for recommending one or more materials used in designing and manufacturing parts may include receiving data from at least three data sources. The data sources may include a sourcing, manufacturing, and design data source. The data source data may be standardized to obtain a collection of data including a dataset of materials for consideration in recommending one or more materials for use in one or more parts. The method may also include receiving optimization metrics and constraints for the dataset of materials. Optimization values for each material based on the dataset of materials and the one or more optimization metrics may be determined. An optimization algorithm on each material may be performed based at least on the optimization values and the constraints to obtain one or more recommended materials from the dataset of materials for use in a design of one or more parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Ford Motor Company
    Inventors: Raja Shekar Sohmshetty, Nicholas P. Warrick, Shawn Michael Morgans, Zhiyong Cedric Xia, Michael James Freeman
  • Patent number: D673995
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: 3-D Etc., LLC
    Inventors: David P. Hodgson, John J. Heinlen