Patents Examined by Brian E. Miller
  • Patent number: 10516470
    Abstract: A method may comprise relaying a wireless signal via a bi-directional, full-duplex relay. The relay may comprise an analog uplink relay and an analog downlink relay, and may relay signals between a transmitter and a backscatter node. The spectrum of the downlink signal transmitted by the downlink relay may be different than the spectrum of the uplink signal received by the uplink relay. Filtering may attenuate leakage from the downlink relay to the uplink relay, and vice versa. The uplink relay may create a phase offset that is opposite in sign and substantially equal in magnitude to the phase offset created by the downlink relay. The downlink and uplink relays, taken together, may create a substantially constant net phase offset. The full-duplex relay may be housed in a vehicle that moves, and may be used to determine spatial coordinates of backscatter sources that are located in the relay's environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Yunfei Ma, Nicholas Selby, Fadel Adib
  • Patent number: 10515657
    Abstract: Provided are a magnetic tape, in which a magnetic layer includes a ferromagnetic powder, a binding agent, and an oxide abrasive, ?SFD in a longitudinal direction of the magnetic tape calculated by Expression 1, ?SFD=SFD25° C.?SFD?190° C., is equal to or smaller than 0.50, a logarithmic decrement acquired by a pendulum viscoelasticity test performed regarding a surface of the magnetic layer is equal to or smaller than 0.050, and an average particle diameter of the oxide abrasive obtained from a secondary ion image obtained by irradiating the surface of the magnetic layer with a focused ion beam is 0.04 ?m to 0.08 ?m, and a magnetic recording and reproducing device including this magnetic tape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Norihito Kasada, Eiki Ozawa
  • Patent number: 10515668
    Abstract: A low permeability electrical feed-through involves a laminate structure having alternating conductive and insulating layers with a conductive through-hole positioned therethrough, by which a lower connector pad is electrically connected with an upper connector pad. Such a feed-through may be used at an interface between a hermetically-sealed internal environment, such as in a lighter-than-air gas filled data storage device, and the external environment. An insulating layer is positioned and configured such that an associated horizontal leak path can meet an allowable feed-through leak rate, while the collection of layers is configured such that an associated vertical leak path can meet the feed-through leak rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kimihiko Sudo, Seong-Hun Choe, Kazuhiro Nagaoka
  • Patent number: 10510245
    Abstract: A system for controlling multiple appliances concurrently using short-range wireless communication includes a control device. A command advertisement includes at least one encoded command and at least one target identity string within an advertisement. The command advertisement is within the control device. A transmitter integral with the control device transmits the command advertisement. Appliances are remotely located relative to the control device and within a transmission range of the transmitter. Each appliance includes at least one receiver, at least one appliance processor and at least one appliance identity string. Each appliance receives the command advertisement through the receiver. The appliance processor decodes the encoded command. The appliance processor only executes the encoded command if the target identity string matches the appliance identity string. The receiver receives the command advertisement without being paired to the transmitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: LEDVANCE LLC
    Inventor: Shiyong Zhang
  • Patent number: 10511347
    Abstract: A near field communication (NFC) reader is disclosed. The NFC reader includes an antenna front-end that includes a low pass filter, a matching circuit and an antenna coil. The NFC reader also includes a NFC controller. The NFC controller includes an oscillator coupled to the antenna front-end and the NFC controller is configured to detect a presence of an object in proximity of the antenna front-end using one or more changes in an output of the oscillator. The antenna front-end creates a tank circuit for the oscillator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Gernot Hueber, Ian Thomas Macnamara
  • Patent number: 10497392
    Abstract: To improve general versatility regarding a disk cartridge. A disk conveyor apparatus includes: a disk holder that holds at least a part of a disk cartridge in which disk-shaped recording media are accommodated inside a case body in a state where the disk-shaped recording media are accommodated, and is moved in at least a direction of a center axis of the disk-shaped recording media; a movement mechanism that causes the disk holder to move in the direction of the center axis of the disk-shaped recording media; and a feeder mechanism that feeds the disk-shaped recording media toward a disk drive apparatus from the case body, the disk holder being capable of holding different types of disk cartridges, a movement position of the disk holder being set by operating the movement mechanism in accordance with the type of the disk cartridge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takuji Nakamura, Jiro Fujiwara, Takashi Yamamoto, Satoshi Moriyama, Masaya Orime, Hideki Yoneoka, Kiyoshi Yamauchi
  • Patent number: 10490213
    Abstract: A method of forming a PMR writer with an all wrap around (AWA) shield design in which one or more of the leading shield, side shields, and trailing shield (TS) structure (except the hot seed layer) at the air bearing surface (ABS) are comprised of an alloy having a damping parameter ? of ?0.04 to minimize wide area track erasure (WATE). The TS structure comprises two outer magnetic layers with an 8-16 kiloGauss (kG) saturation magnetic moment (Ms) on each side of a center stack with a lower write gap, a middle hot seed layer (Ms of 19-24 kG), and an upper magnetic layer (Ms of 16-24 kG). The hot seed layer and upper TS magnetic layer promote improved area density capability (ADC). A second TS layer with Ms of 16-24 kG and a full width at the ABS may be formed on the upper magnetic layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Yue Liu, Ying Liu, Yuhui Tang, Jiun-Ting Lee, Moris Dovek, Yiming Wang
  • Patent number: 10490221
    Abstract: A near field transducer has a bottom disc with a first surface facing a write pole of a recording head. The bottom disc is recessed from a media-facing surface of the recording head by a distance R. An anchor layer is stacked on the first surface of the bottom disc and has an enlarged part with a peripheral shape corresponding to that of the bottom disc. The anchor layer further has a peg that extends from an end of the enlarged part towards the media facing surface, the end of the enlarged part recessed from the media facing surface by the distance R. A middle disc is on a second surface of the anchor layer. The middle disc is recessed from the media-facing surface a distance MDSCR that is greater than the distance R. A heat sink is stacked on a third surface of the middle disc. The heat sink is recessed from the media-facing surface by at least a distance TPH that is greater than the distance MDSCR.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventor: Weibin Chen
  • Patent number: 10490210
    Abstract: A PMR writer is disclosed with a leading shield in which a lower (LS2) layer, a middle LS1 layer, and an upper leading edge taper (LET) layer have a damping parameter?0.04, and extend from an air bearing surface (ABS) to a first height (h1) from the ABS. The LS2 layer has a notch filled with dielectric material at the air bearing surface (ABS) that extends to a height?h1, or may be completely replaced with dielectric material. Two notch front sides each form an angle ? with the LS1 bottom surface, and two notch inner sides between the ABS and LS2 backside form angle ? with the ABS where each of ? and ? is from 10 degrees to 170 degrees. Accordingly, bits per square inch performance is improved while substantially maintaining tracks per square inch capability for an overall gain in area density capability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ying Liu, Yue Liu, Kei Hirata, Yuhui Tang
  • Patent number: 10482905
    Abstract: A dual perpendicular magnetic recording writer is disclosed wherein the better of two writers on a slider is determined by performance testing, and is then integrated into a head gimbal assembly. Main pole layers in the two writers are separated by a cross-track width <10 microns to minimize read-write offset. Each of the driving coil (DC) and bucking coil (BC) have two outer portions forming a U shape with a front side, and each have a center portion connected to the front side proximate to an air bearing surface and a backend contacting an interconnect. A write current passes from a BC outer portion below the main pole in the selected writer through the BC center portion to the interconnect, and then through the DC center portion to a DC outer portion above the main pole in the selected writer. Area density capability mean and sigma are improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Headway Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kowang Liu, Yuhui Tang, Moris Dovek
  • Patent number: 10482916
    Abstract: An automatic CD processing facility includes a mechanical gripper used for clamping a CD, storage cabinets located on side faces of the mechanical gripper and used for storing CDs, and a CD driver array cabinet located in front of or/and behind the mechanical gripper and used for processing the CDs. the CDs are placed in the storage cabinets and then are transferred by the mechanical gripper into the CD driver array cabinet to be processed, and after being processed, the CDs are taken out of the CD driver array cabinet to be placed back into the storage cabinets by the mechanical gripper. The automatic CD processing facility is high in automation degree, replaces traditional manual operation to take and place CDs, and improves processing efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Jiangsu Fine Storage Information Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yilin Liu, Hui Luo
  • Patent number: 10460767
    Abstract: A base member is structured to define a portion of a casing in which a gas with a density lower than that of air is to be sealed and to support a motor to be housed in the casing. The base member includes a base body made of a cast material, an information mark, and an insulating coating layer. The information mark includes casting information and is located on a portion of a surface of the base body. The insulating coating layer is defined on the surface of the base body and covers the information mark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro Yoneda, Takaharu Funatsu, Akitsugu Miwa, Masakazu Matsuyama, Junzo Fujinawa, Tadahiro Kuramoto
  • Patent number: 10446177
    Abstract: A disk apparatus includes a casing, a rotatable disk recording medium that is disposed within the casing, a head configured to process information with respect to the recording medium, an actuator assembly that is disposed within the casing and that movably supports the head, and a filter unit that is disposed within the casing. The filter unit includes a base section fixed to an inner surface of the casing, a holding frame coupled to the base, and a collection filter detachably held in place by the holding frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hirofumi Suzuki, Yasuhiko Kato
  • Patent number: 10445686
    Abstract: In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided herein useful to enable delivery of commercial products to customers. In some embodiments, the system comprises an autonomous ground vehicle on a delivery route to deliver commercial products to a person of interest. The AGV comprises control circuits communicatively coupled to sensors. The control circuits, using sensor data, determines whether a person positioned within a threshold distance relative to the AGV is the PoI; allow the PoI to designate an intention of a second person positioned within the threshold distance as being friendly or adverse relative to the PoI; determine the intention of the second person; receive a command from the PoI overriding the determination that the second person's intention is adverse to the PoI; and allow the PoI to take possession of the commercial products when the designated intention is friendly relative to the PoI and the command is received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Todd D. Mattingly, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Donald R. High, Brian G. McHale
  • Patent number: 10446180
    Abstract: According to some embodiments, a storage device includes a first actuator and a second actuator rotatable around a common axis. The storage device further includes a first electrical connector configured to communicate electrical signals to and from the first actuator, and a second electrical connector configured to communicate electrical signals to and from the second actuator and to communicate electrical signals to and from the first electrical connector. The storage device includes a hermetically-sealed body, the hermetically-sealed body including a base deck and a top cover, wherein the second electrical connector is configured to send and receive electrical signals to and from the first actuator and the second actuator through a single aperture in the hermetically-sealed body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Maxwell Reese Kraus, Roger A. Resh, Andrew R. Motzko, Michael Allen Mewes
  • Patent number: 10446192
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus includes a plurality of parts, a frame having an outer periphery surrounding the plurality of parts and formed from resin, a circuit board disposed at one side in a first direction with respect to the plurality of parts, a chassis disposed at the one side in the first direction with respect to the plurality of parts, and formed from metal, and a metal plate disposed at the other side in the first direction with respect to at least one of the plurality of parts and attached to the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventors: Kenji Hirose, Kazuto Nakagawa, Shinya Tsuchida, Yasuhiro Ootori
  • Patent number: 10438629
    Abstract: A disc cassette includes a curved portion configured to hold multiple discs. The disc cassette further includes a bottom side including track connectors configured to position the disc cassette relative to one or more track portions that hold the disc cassette in place. The disc cassette is slideable along the one or more track portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David J. Altknecht, Donald S. Bethune, William M. Dyer, A. David Erpelding, Steven R. Hetzler, Drew B. Lawson, Daniel F. Smith
  • Patent number: 10428559
    Abstract: Systems and methods for control systems for facilitating situational awareness of a vehicle are provided. Sensors located around a stationary vehicle may detect moving objects that pose potentially dangerous situations for the vehicle occupants and for the object. This can cause the doors to lock automatically in order to make the situation safer. Additionally, electromagnetic radiation sensors located around the vehicle may detect the lights and sounds of emergency vehicles. If the electromagnetic data from the electromagnetic radiation sensors match a known pattern of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles stored in a library an alarm may be sounded through the speakers of the vehicle in order to alert the vehicle occupants of an emergency vehicle in the vicinity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
    Inventors: John A. Nepomuceno, Leo Chan, Steven C. Cielocha, Roxane Lyons, Matthew S. Megyese, William J. Leise, Jennifer Criswell Kellett, Kristopher Keith Gaudin, Jennifer L. Crawford, Jeremy Myers, Edward P. Matesevac, III, Rajiv C. Shah
  • Patent number: 10427644
    Abstract: An apparatus for a vehicle key, an apparatus for a vehicle control system, and an apparatus for a mobile device. The apparatus includes a first interface to communicate with a vehicle control system and a second interface to communicate via a radio connection. The apparatus also includes a control module to receive proximity information from the vehicle control system via the first interface and to establish a radio connection via the second interface if the proximity information indicates spatial proximity of the vehicle key to the vehicle control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignees: VOLKSWAGEN AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, HELLA GMBH & CO. KGAA
    Inventors: Ludger Weghaus, Hannes Haupt
  • Patent number: 10424327
    Abstract: A head suspension assembly for testing a slider. The head suspension assembly includes a load beam assembly and a gimbal coupled to the load beam assembly. A clamp is coupled to the gimbal. The clamp is configured to releasably secure a slider in the head suspension assembly. The clamp includes an alignment feature for positioning the slider in the head suspension assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventor: Sunchai Mata