Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Tuttle
  • Patent number: 7663818
    Abstract: By maintaining a relative position of coils of a movable unit with respect to fixed magnets in a normal state to stabilize a relative position of the movable unit with respect to the whole of a lens drive assembly, the lens drive assembly is provided as an assembly capable of adjusting the focus of a lens in a satisfactory manner. In a voice coil type lens drive assembly for adjusting the focus of a lens, a spring 6, a yoke 6 with magnets 5 and a movable unit M1 attached thereto, and electrically conductive springs 2, are accommodated in this order on a base 1 and a connecting portion of a cover frame 8 and that of the base 1 are connected together to unite the two components. At the same time, cut-in portions 6d formed in end portions of the yoke 6, which is a metallic yoke, are fitted on projections 1e of the base 1 and both are joined together with connections to the cover frame 8 as guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Inventor: Huang Tien Chung
  • Patent number: 7661661
    Abstract: An evaporator assembly unit, especially for a vehicle heater or a reformer arrangement of a fuel cell system, includes a wall arrangement (12) enclosing an evaporation chamber (20) with a circumferential wall (14) and with a bottom wall (16). An air introduction shoulder (18) extending in the direction of a wall longitudinal axis (L) is provided with a plurality of first air introduction openings (22). Evaporator medium (26), that is porous at least in some areas, is provided on the side of the wall arrangement (12) facing the evaporation chamber (20). An auxiliary air opening arrangement (34) with at least one second air introduction opening (36) is provided in the wall arrangement (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: J. Eberspächer GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Oliver Schmidt
  • Patent number: 7663276
    Abstract: A photo sensor module includes a holder made of resin and a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element accommodated in the holder. A printed circuit board is fixed to a flat side wall portion of a motor. The resin holder has a guide portion which is formed integrally therewith and which comes into contact with an end surface and a bearing-holding portion of an end bell. The printed circuit board is fixed in a state in which the guide portion is sandwiched between the bearing-holding portion and the printed circuit board while being brought into contact with the end surface of the end bell, whereby the photo sensor module is positioned in thrust and radial directions of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kouhei Igarashi
  • Patent number: 7663823
    Abstract: A voice coil type lens drive assembly for adjusting the focus of a lens is provided which can prevent the occurrence of trouble in the event of exertion on an external force on the lens not only in a completed state of assembly but also during assembly or during disassembly for repair and is applicable also to a downsized lens drive assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Inventor: Huang Tien Chung
  • Patent number: 7661521
    Abstract: A coin selector prevents illegal actuation of a coin sensor for real coin detection and is reduced in size and has a high coin processing rate, and which can cancel a coin to be cancelled reliably. The coin selector detects the passage of a coin based upon a signal from a coin sensor disposed downstream of a real/fake discriminating unit formed along a coin passage through which the coin moves. A moving direction changing unit for a coin is provided on the coin passage downstream of the real/fake discriminating unit and the coin passage downstream of the moving direction changing unit is disposed on a plane different from a plane on which the moving direction changing unit is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: Asahi Seiko Company Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Abe, Yoshinobu Tanaka
  • Patent number: 7658900
    Abstract: In a reactor for the decomposition of a silicon-containing gas, provision is made, to avoid silicon deposition on an inner wall of a reactor vessel, for at least one catalytically active mesh to be provided within a reaction chamber between at least one gas feed line and the inner wall (4). The mesh accelerates the thermal decomposition of the gas and reduces the deposition of silicon on the inner wall. Also described is a process for the preparation of silicon using the reactor according to the invention and the use in photovoltaics of the silicon prepared.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: Joint Solar Silicon GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Rico Berthold, Christian Beyer, Armin Müller, Carsten Pätzold, Torsten Sill, Ute Singliar, Raymund Sonnenschein, Gerald Ziegenbalg
  • Patent number: 7658444
    Abstract: An energy-absorbing deformable structure to attach a child safety seat to a mounting portion of a vehicle comprises a bracket. The bracket includes a base configured to be coupled to the mounting portion of the vehicle, a metal strap positioned in the base such that a first end of the metal strap is configured to be free and coupled to the child safety seat, a second end of the metal strap is separably attached to the base, and a body of the metal strap is bent between the first end and the second end. When the metal strap is pulled in tension, the metal strap tears from the base, thereby absorbing energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Mark Murphy, Reddy Malapati
  • Patent number: 7656278
    Abstract: A theft prevention apparatus of a leisure vehicle equipped with a rider's seat which opens outside is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoji Onishi, Kenichi Furuhashi, Naoki Kawamura, Satoru Watabe, Tomoyuki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 7654832
    Abstract: A double-row angle pin connector is provided for a patch plug that has an insertion direction that is parallel to the printed circuit board. The angle pin connector comprises angle pins (8) arranged in two rows in an inner, patch plug-side row (12) as well as in an outer row (13). The angle pins (8) have printed circuit board-side soldered ends (6) and patch plug-side plugged ends (5). The angle pin connector furthermore includes a housing bottom (14) and a housing cover (15) for fixing the angle pins (8). The soldered ends (6) arranged in the patch plug-side row (12) are fixed between the housing bottom (14) and the housing cover (15) by housing support straps (17) bent during the mounting of the housing. The arrangement provides reliably operating multi-pole patch plugs, without angle plugs with a separate extrusion coating, whereby installation space and costs can thus be saved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventor: Berthold Kohorst
  • Patent number: 7654253
    Abstract: A method to determine degradation of a humidity sensor used for controlling an engine of a vehicle, the humidity sensor exterior to a passenger compartment of the vehicle, the method comprising determining whether to enable monitoring of the sensor based on a duration since vehicle operation; and in response to a determination to enable monitoring, comparing a signal from a second humidity sensor to a signal from the humidity sensor exterior to said passenger compartment of the vehicle to determine whether either of sensors has degraded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Michael J. Cullen
  • Patent number: 7654385
    Abstract: Machine for front joining and sticking of oblong wood workpieces by toothed front joints and referential procedure consists of the flow press and entrance conveying line, and solves the problem of simple and quality front joining and sticking of workpieces, which travel through them fast and fluently in a consecutive row, irrespective of possible yet allowed curvature and dimensional deviation. This is enabled by the construction of entrance conveyors and exit conveyors of the conveying line, equipped with mechanisms for adjustment of side chain units, and with elastic couplings, whereby inside the side chain units the elastic insertions are placed, and inside pressing conveyors other elastic insertions are placed. Joints among individual entrance conveyors, among individual exit conveyors, and among conveyors are likewise elastic constructions by means of adjustable screws placed between fixed cantilevers, and between tension cantilevers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Inventors: Gregor Ledinek, Pavel Ledinek
  • Patent number: 7653977
    Abstract: A method and a system are provided for machining, especially for joining work pieces (2) in the shell of a body structure. The work pieces are transported in a continuous manner along a transfer line (3) by a conveyor (5) and are machined by several robots (7, 8) which are preferably arranged in a stationary manner on the transfer line. The robots (7, 8) are synchronized with the conveying movement of the workpieces (2). The movement and the position of the workpieces (2) are detected by a sensor system (13) which informs a control system (12) which controls the conveyors (5) and the robots (7,8). The machining system (1) can comprise a monitoring system (11) provided with an optical image detection system, which enables synchronization to be monitored and possibly retroactively adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignee: KUKA Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Gerhard Wiedemann, Helmut Grieger, Larry Drake
  • Patent number: 7655020
    Abstract: A surgical punching instrument is provided with a fixed handle (14) attached to a punching bar (2) and with an actuating lever (16), which is mounted thereon in a pivotingly movable manner and which is connected via a short lever arm (17) to a punching slide (1), which is in turn under the action of a restoring spring (23). The punching slide (1) lies with its flat sliding surface (3) on a flat guiding surface (4) of the punching bar (2) over its entire length and is guided at same in an axially movable manner by means of guide elements (5 through 8), which have a T-shaped profile, engage one another in a positive-locking manner and are detachable by longitudinal displacement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignees: Jörg Wenzler Medizintechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Jörg Wenzler, Christoph Zepf
  • Patent number: 7657082
    Abstract: A method of measuring a welding-groove position for an over-lapped fillet welding of thin members, comprising a projection step of projecting a slit light so that the slit light is projected on both the thin members crossing a welding-groove face, a two-dimensional image acquisition step of capturing the slit-light image projected on each of the thin members as two-dimensional images; a three-dimensional conversion step of converting the two-dimensional images into three-dimensional images using a predetermined three-dimensional conversion parameter, and a calculation step of calculating the welding-groove position based on the three-dimensional data of the projected slit-light images, and relative positions between the projected slit-light images in the three-dimensional data defined by shapes and arrangement of the thin members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignees: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Central Motor Wheel Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sadao Kubo, Tadao Shimada, Kazuhiko Onoue, Hirotaka Uehara, Hirotaka Kinoshita, Yukimitsu Suzuki, Ichiro Arita
  • Patent number: 7652470
    Abstract: A ball and sleeve joint for a motor vehicle has a housing (1) and a ball sleeve (5) which extends out of the housing (1) on both sides. The ball sleeve (5), has a through hole (8) and a bearing area (4) and is mounted with the bearing area (4) in the housing (1). Two joint parts, which are rotatable and pivotable in relation to one another, are formed by the ball sleeve (5) and the housing (1). A sensor (13), which interacts with a signal transmitter (2) arranged at the other joint part, is arranged at one of the joint parts. Both the sensor (13) and the signal transmitter (2) are arranged between the through hole (8) and the housing (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventor: Joachim Spratte
  • Patent number: 7652687
    Abstract: A system and method for analyzing a queue. The method may comprise defining a queue and evaluating a series of still images of the queue zone at periodic intervals over a predefined period of time. The method may further comprise approximating an estimated average number of people in the queue over the interval during which the still image was taken to be a number of people counted in the queue zone minus one person who is assumed to be engaged in a transaction. The method may further comprise calculating an estimated average number of the people in the queue over the predefined period by averaging estimated average number of people over intervals within the predefined period. The method may further comprise determining a measure of a queue length based on the estimated average number of people in the queue over the predefined period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: Sorensen Associates Inc.
    Inventor: Herb Sorensen
  • Patent number: 7650862
    Abstract: A multiple-cylinder DOHC engine, including a cylinder head, a first camshaft that is mounted on the cylinder head and is configured to drive one of an intake valve and an exhaust valve mounted on the cylinder head, a second camshaft that is mounted on the cylinder head and is configured to drive the other one of an intake valve and an exhaust valve, a camshaft drive system that is mounted at an end portion of the first camshaft in an axial direction thereof and is configured to drive the first camshaft, and a driving power transmission mechanism that is disposed at a center portion of the first and second camshafts in the axial direction to transmit a driving power from the first camshaft to the second camshaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshimoto Matsuda
  • Patent number: 7653265
    Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, systems and methods that track overall time for processing operations such that the processing time can be shared among the resources in an efficient manner. Processing time can be shifted to image processing where the time will provide the most benefit to image quality. Moreover, access time from one process is banked to be used by a subsequent process or on a subsequent group of pixels. This document also discusses, among other things, systems and methods that provide additional processing power on an as needed basis. In an example, a processing stage and its controller are outside the normal pixel processing flow path. When it is determined that additional processing is required, the processing stage and its controller are activated to perform the additional processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventor: Carl J. Ruggiero
  • Patent number: 7651316
    Abstract: A conveying member, especially a rotor or stator, for conveying a flowable, preferably gaseous medium, comprises a plurality of blades (S1-S7) arranged following each other with a circumferential distance in a circumferential direction (U) around a central axis (A). Either a first circumferential distance (a) or a second circumferential distance (b) differing from the first circumferential distance (a) is provided between a blade and a respective blade following it in the circumferential direction (U) in a group of blades directly following each other in a circumferential direction (U), which the group comprises at least some of the blades (S1-S7). The first circumferential distance (a) is provided between at least two blades (S1-S7) located directly adjacent to one another, and the second circumferential distance is provided between at least two blades (S1-S7) located directly adjacent to one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: J. Eberspächer GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Jan Krüger, Frank Castor, Manfred Nicolai, Thomas Rose
  • Patent number: 7651106
    Abstract: A stabilizer device for an axle of a motor vehicle. The axle has a roll stabilizer (2) and for each wheel at least one wheel guide control arm (1). The chassis-side articulation of the wheel guide control arm (1) is connected to an end area of the roll stabilizer (2) such that a twisting actuation of the roll stabilizer (2) takes place due to an inward deflection motion of the wheel guide control arm (1). An end of the roll stabilizer (2) is received in a hollow shaft (6) connected to the wheel guide control arm (1). The hollow shaft (6) is mounted in a chassis-side bearing flange (3) and the bearing flange (3) can be elastically connected to the vehicle. The stabilizer device is used especially to eliminate the conflicts of design goals between the requirements of uncoupling structure-borne noise and comfort of the chassis, on the one hand, and immediate response characteristic of the stabilizer, on the other hand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventor: Jens Vortmeyer