Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Law Offices of Thomas E. Schatzel
  • Patent number: 5667592
    Abstract: A modular semiconductor wafer processing system comprises a plurality of detachable process reactors and other types of generators that can be attached to any of several ports on the lid of a circular wafer handling chamber. A multiple-spoke single-axis rigid-arm transfer carousel centrally located within the circular wafer handling chamber has access to the respective process areas beneath each port in the lid. A set of independent cylindrical sleeves with sealing rings are provided to rise up from the floor of the circular wafer handling chamber to contact and seal against the lid to isolate each of the process stations. The multiple-spoke single-axis rigid-arm transfer carousel is automatically positioned out of the way before the cylindrical rings are raised and sealed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 16, 1997
    Assignee: Gasonics International
    Inventors: Charles A. Boitnott, James W. Caughran, Steve Egbert
  • Patent number: 5662880
    Abstract: A method of making activated alumina includes beginning with a leach liquor of potassium and aluminum sulphates that is subjected to a surface-cooled crystallizer with a heat-exchanger input temperature of 160.degree. F. and a surface-chilled temperature of 60.degree. F. to 80.degree. F. Crystals of aluminum sulphate are precipitated and recrystalized by evaporation in a vacuum and at an elevated temperature. Purified crystals of aluminum sulphate are then dried at 50.degree.-60.degree. C. The dried aluminum sulphate crystals are then dehydrated at 400.degree.-450.degree. C. after a rise rate of 10.degree.-20.degree. C. per minute to drive off most of the water. A roasting and recalcination step at 900.degree. C.-950.degree. C. after a rise rate of 10.degree.-20.degree. C. per minute is used drive off the sulphate. The remaining alumina is useful as a high-grade catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 2, 1997
    Assignee: Solv-Ex Corporation
    Inventors: John S. Rendall, Massoud Ahghar, Stephen J. Lane
  • Patent number: 5662143
    Abstract: A modular gas box system comprises a series of modules that each connect into upper and lower manifolds that distribute reactive and purge gases through weldments and monoblock valves. A motherboard distributes power, control signals, and pneumatics air to all the plug-in modules. Environmental modules provide vent and purge lines to the process' reaction chambers. An embedded microcomputer manages in situ system and safety diagnostics for each and every module that has been assigned a motherboard address. Each gas module 24 is easy to remove and replace and the pneumatics control motherboard integrates pneumatics distribution, analog-to-digital converters, device controllers and support electronics. Gas module 24s include digital mass flow controllers, analog and digital pressure switches and transducers, gas filters and pneumatic valves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 2, 1997
    Assignees: Gasonics International, MKS Instruments, Inc.
    Inventor: James W. Caughran
  • Patent number: 5663016
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is a process in which a polymer solution is spin coated onto a master data recording disk, such as glass substrate with photoresist images, before separating. After drying and forming polymer, a polymer membrane results which is a faithful reproduction of micron-sized optical recording features on the surface of the master. Such membrane is either peeled-off and mounted to a pellicle-like frame or first laminated to a stiffer, stronger substrate before peeling to support the duplicate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 2, 1997
    Inventor: Gilbert H. Hong
  • Patent number: 5647765
    Abstract: A modular jack for interfacing a modular plug with a printed circuit board. The jack has a first outer housing segment and a second outer housing segment with a plurality of contacts embedded within the second segment and having pin portions projecting therefrom about one terminal end and contact portions projecting therefrom about the other terminal end with the contact portions being insertable within the first housing segment to make interface contact and mating with a male plug. The modular jack may include a shield with an electrically conductive compliant member about the edge of the shield to make interface electrical connection with a panel when the modular jack is mounted in place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 15, 1997
    Assignee: Regal Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Orville A. Haas, Edward A. Karale
  • Patent number: 5645425
    Abstract: A dental model and articulator system comprises upper and lower dental casts that each receive a corresponding anchor in their respective vertical posterior faces. A generally rectangular articulator main body has a transverse horizontal hinge attachment on its top that connects to an upper arm and the anchor on the upper dental cast. A vertical pivot is provided in the bottom end of the articulator main body that connects to the anchor on the lower dental cast. The upper and lower anchors attach to their respective articulator parts with a stem-in-sleeve arrangement that allows independent lateral tilting of both the upper and lower dental casts for occlusal and masticatory registration and fixing with glue. The vertical pivot also attaches to the articulator main body with a stem-in-sleeve arrangement that allows further degrees of freedom for the occlusal and masticatory registration between the upper and lower dental casts and for fixing the registration with glue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 8, 1997
    Assignee: Nu-Logic Dental Mfg., Inc.
    Inventor: Lars E. Callne
  • Patent number: 5642285
    Abstract: A GPS navigation receiver with a data output port for communicating a position estimate frame-by-frame and time codes in SMPTE format. The conventional date and time sentence output of the GPS navigation receiver is combined with a highly-accurate one pulse-per-second (.+-.one microsecond) to form a time-keeping base for the time code output. A data-logger records the position estimates with their corresponding time in time code format frame-by-frame in a database. The recorded position estimates are then used in special-effects post-production to direct the special-effects animation, modeling kinetics, etc., in a composite, final film or video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Arthur N. Woo, David S. Sprague
  • Patent number: 5635114
    Abstract: An optical disk records digital information in optically-reflective layers that each vary in thickness between constructive interference of a monochromatic light and destructive interference of the said monochromatic light. The difference in the intensity of a reflected light beam subjected to interferometric constructive and destructive interference is used to communicate digital data from the optically-reflective layers and a detector. The optical disk provides for multiple layers of digital information that are tuned for interferometric response at correspondingly different monochromatic wavelengths of light. Another embodiment of the present invention is a mass-production process for making such an interferometric optical disk. Another embodiment of the present invention is a variation that includes layers that are emitting or absorbing depending on dopants.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Inventor: Gilbert H. Hong
  • Patent number: 5628653
    Abstract: A shielded modular adapter adapts one type of connector to another and provides electromagnetic shielding therein in order to reduce radio frequency interference and adjacent signal line interference. The shielded modular adapter may include electromagnetic filters to further reduce electromagnetic radiation. Additionally, the shielded modular adapter is user programmable or selectable by inserting pins into the appropriate holes within a connector and snapping the connector in place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1997
    Assignee: Regal Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Orville A. Haas, Edward A. Karale
  • Patent number: 5627548
    Abstract: A navigation wristwear device comprises a GPS receiver fully disposed in a wrist watch type housing. A transparent microwave patch antenna is patterned of indium-tin-oxide on sapphire in front of an LCD time, position and velocity display. A bezel provides a protective window. A low-noise amplifier, downconversion, code processing and navigation processing are all provided on a single integrated circuit. Photovoltaic solar cells to each side of the LCD help keep a battery charged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Arthur N. Woo, Kiyoko M. Mura-Smith, Gregory T. Janky
  • Patent number: 5625365
    Abstract: An antenna system for a navigation satellite receiver tuned to dual-frequency transmissions from orbiting navigation satellites. Respective L1 and L2 microwave patch antennas are mounted flat and adjacent to one another on a common ceramic substrate and have their centers grounded to a groundplane on the opposite side of the substrate with vias. Each patch antenna is connected to a respective near-by low-noise amplifier. The low-noise amplifiers are both connected to a signal combiner and a final radio frequency amplifier for down feed to a navigation satellite receiver. A direct current signal from the navigation satellite receiver is used on the down-feed to selectively control which one of the two low-noise amplifiers is to operate. Thus one coaxial down-feed supplies power to the low-noise amplifiers and provides for the selection between the L1 and L2 carrier frequencies on the down-feed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 29, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Paul K. W. Tom, Valentine L. Denninger
  • Patent number: 5625668
    Abstract: A cellular telephone system embodiment of the present invention comprises a combination global positioning system (GPS) receiver and cellular transceiver and a data processing facility for converting latitude, longitude, velocity and bearing information provided by the GPS receiver into meaningful descriptors that are spoken with a speech synthesizer back to the cellular transceiver or an outsider who calls in an inquiry to a "1-900" service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 29, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Peter V. W. Loomis, Peter L. Froeberg
  • Patent number: 5621267
    Abstract: A metal halide lamp includes a cast ceramic reflector almost completely comprised of alumina. A conventional metal halide bulb is positioned within the reflector. A glaze and then a dielectric coating are applied to the inside surface of the reflector, such that appreciable amounts of infrared radiation from the bulb are absorbed into the glaze and ceramic and not reflected into the beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 15, 1997
    Assignee: ILC Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard O. Shaffner, John F. Richter
  • Patent number: 5615236
    Abstract: An improved single or dual-frequency navigation satellite receiver that can directly re-acquire P-code code-phase after a brief loss of P-code tracking. A digital signal processor (DSP) writes its current position fixes to a non-volatile memory. The DSP also updates a clock that keeps a running estimate of precise global positioning system time. When P-code code-phase is lost, it is re-acquired by reading the clock back in, adjusting for its drift, reading in the last position fix from the non-volatile memory, and then beginning an advanced P-code code-phase search based on such head start information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 25, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventor: Paul F. Turney
  • Patent number: 5612595
    Abstract: A dimmable fluorescent lamp system embodiment of the present invention comprises a fluorescent lamp with filaments at each end that are continuously heated by independent secondary windings of a transformer. A resonating capacitor is connected in series with a resonating inductor and a pair of DC blocking capacitors are connected from each end of the fluorescent lamp to put it in parallel with the resonating capacitor. A control logic drives the primary winding with a pulse-width or frequency modulated square wave that is controlled by a feedback voltage derived from a pair of rectifiers and a dropping resistor in series with one of the DC blocking capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1997
    Assignee: C-P-M Lighting, Inc.
    Inventor: Ajay Maheshwari
  • Patent number: 5612594
    Abstract: A dimmable fluorescent lamp system comprises a fluorescent lamp with filaments at each end that are continuously heated by a transformer. A resonating capacitor is connected in series with a resonating inductor and a pair of DC blocking capacitors are connected from each end of the fluorescent lamp to put it in parallel with the resonating capacitor. A control logic drives the resonating inductor with a pulse-width modulated square wave that is controlled by a feedback voltage derived from a pair of rectifiers and a dropping resistor in series with one of the DC blocking capacitors. An error amplifier with two gain settings, e.g., one for a range of 0-20% of maximum light dimming and the other for 20%-100% dimming, compares the feedback voltage to a setpoint. A threshold comparator establishes the switchover point between the two error gain ranges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 18, 1997
    Assignee: C-P-M Lighting, Inc.
    Inventor: Ajay Maheshwari
  • Patent number: 5610614
    Abstract: A real-time kinematic system includes base and rover GPS units connected by a data link. The rover unit is typically moved to points of interest during a survey while the base remains over a fixed, and known location. An initialization testing program of the present invention is mounted on a personal computer platform that forces in the rover a loss of signal tracking, thus simulating losses in signal reception caused by obstructions of the satellite signals. A complete initialization is forced to occur. The test program uninitializes the RTK solution by causing a loss of integer ambiguities resolution by forcing a loss of lock on one or more satellites. The test program then monitors the subsequent initialization process, e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Nicholas C. Talbot, Michael T. Allison, Peter Griffioen
  • Patent number: 5603077
    Abstract: A satellite broadcast system using an airwave message signal to remotely control a signal receiver. The system includes a system manager to issue a message, a message service to broadcast the message in the airwave message signal, and a signal receiver to select a satellite and a channel of a downlink signal from the satellite carrying a desired program. The program may include audio/video, text, pictures, software, or data. In the preferred embodiment, the message service is a pager service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1997
    Assignee: Chaparral Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas A. Muckle, Gregory D. Gudorf, John O. Bumgarner
  • Patent number: 5602741
    Abstract: A system embodiment of the present invention comprises a fixed and a roving pair of four-observable GPS receivers and a communication link between them for double differencing code and carrier measurements. Carrier phase integer ambiguities are resolved efficiently by searching the simultaneous narrow-lane intersections of both the L1 and L2 wave fronts propagated by the GPS satellites being tracked. External constraint information, such as elevation, is additionally used to speed up integer ambiguity resolution. Data between the reference station and the rover is communicated in compressed form at a regular interval, e.g., once a second at each epoch, and demi-measurements of carrier phase are obtained more frequently, e.g., ten times a second, and used to propagate solutions between epochs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: Nicholas C. Talbot, Michael T. Allison, Mark E. Nichols
  • Patent number: 5596500
    Abstract: A combination of a GPS receiver for determining a user's position in terms of latitude and longitude, a database that indexes approximately 53,000 USGS 7.5 minute series topographical quadrangle maps by the latitude and longitude of at least one point on each map, and an interpreter and display that communicates the particular USGS map that represents the user's position together with the ruler dimensions left/right/up/down from a reference point on that map which pinpoints the user's position on the map. The database is stored in the permanent memory of the GPS receiver and the interpreter and display are controller by a microcomputer included in the GPS receiver. The reference points include sixteen intersections on the map of 2.5 minute intervals of latitude and longitude contained in each 7.5 minute series quadrangle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1994
    Date of Patent: January 21, 1997
    Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited
    Inventors: David S. Sprague, Arthur N. Woo