Patents Represented by Attorney Mark A. Conklin
  • Patent number: 7159520
    Abstract: An amusement ride vehicle includes a first vehicle section, a second vehicle section, and an articulation joint connecting, and providing rotational movement between, the first and second vehicle sections. The articulation joint comprises a first shaft for bearing loads during normal operation of the joint, and a second shaft within the first shaft for bearing loads when the first shaft is inoperable. A test element, such as a lever, is attached to the second shaft. The second shaft is rotatable via the test element during normal operation of the joint. When the first shaft is inoperable, the second shaft handles loads acting on the articulation joint, and is not rotatable via the test element, thus indicating a failure of the first shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2007
    Assignee: Universal City Studios LLP
    Inventors: Joseph Casey, Cindy Emerick, Ben Lovelace, Frank Weigand, Bill Whitcomb, Jim Seay, Glen Hartung
  • Patent number: 7152151
    Abstract: A multi-processor arrangement having an interprocessor communication path between each of every possible pair of processors, in addition to I/O paths to and from the arrangement, having signal processing functions configurably embedded in series with the communication paths and/or the I/O paths. Each processor is provided with a local memory which can be accessed by the local processor as well as by the other processors via the communications paths. This allows for efficient data movement from one processor's local memory to another processor's local memory, such as commonly done during signal processing corner turning operations. The configurable signal processing logic may be configured to host one or more signal processing functions to allow data to be processed prior to its deposit into local memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2006
    Assignee: GE Fanuc Embedded Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Winthrop W. Smith