Patents Examined by Christine Liao
  • Patent number: 9835106
    Abstract: A method of machine condition monitoring, wherein at least one measured and/or calculated machine parameter is monitored during the operation of a machine, and wherein a change in the machine condition, particularly a critical operating state of the machine, is deduced when at least one monitored machine parameter reaches a limit value, and wherein at least one monitored machine parameter is monitored depending on at least one other machine parameter in defined operating point ranges of the machine, wherein a change in machine condition is deduced when at least one monitored machine parameter within a defined operating point range reaches at least one limit value individual to the operating point range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: MAN Diesel & Turbo SE
    Inventors: Dorothea Bogatzki, Peter Küper, Oleksandr Sobolyev
  • Patent number: 9835594
    Abstract: A method for automatic diagnosis of a mechanical system of a group of mechanical systems sharing mechanical characteristics includes obtaining data relating to a vibration. The vibration-related data is acquired by a portable communications device configured to communicate with a remote processor. The processor automatically diagnoses the mechanical system by applying a relationship to the obtained vibration-related data. The relationship is based on sets of vibration-related data previously obtained from the mechanical systems. Each set of vibration-related data relates to vibrations of a mechanical system. The relationship is further based on sets of operation data previously obtained for mechanical systems of the group. Each set of operation data indicates a previous state of operation of a mechanical system. Each of the previous states of operation is associated with at least one of the previously obtained sets of vibration-related data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: AUGURY SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventors: Saar Yoskovitz, Gal Shaul
  • Patent number: 9810709
    Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring athletic performances include determining “flight time,” e.g., the amount of time both feet are off the ground, and optionally “flight time” resulting from different types of activities, such as jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, etc. “Flight time” may help a player or coach better understand the effort the athlete is putting out, compare efforts of two or more players, gauge the athlete's performance change over time, and/or identify conditioning needs and/or areas for improvement. Such systems and methods also may generate and display various athletic performance metrics, such as: instantaneous flight time; average flight time; cumulative flight time during an athletic performance or other time period; instantaneous jump height; average jump height; cumulative jump height during an athletic performance or other time period; and comparisons of any flight time and/or jump height metric(s) of one player against another player and/or against himself/herself; etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Nike, Inc.
    Inventors: Santoshkumar Balakrishnan, Robert M. Bruce, Justin Fraga, Paul James Francis
  • Patent number: 9801564
    Abstract: A system and method for determining physiological parameters based on electrical impedance measurements is provided. One method includes obtaining electrical measurement signals acquired from a plurality of transducers coupled to a surface of an object and spatially pre-conditioning the obtained electrical measurement signals. The method also includes performing multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) analog to information conversion (AIC) of the spatially pre-conditioned electrical measurement signals to correlate the spatially pre-conditioned electrical measurement signals to separate the electrical measurement signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Amit Satish Gore, Jeffrey Michael Ashe, Emad Andarawis Andarawis
  • Patent number: 9778140
    Abstract: An engine testing apparatus is provided with a memory portion for storing a control command value obtained when the rotation speed of a dynamometer is changed by the control command value in accordance with the change of the engine rotation speed in a real vehicle in a period in which the engine behavior in a real vehicle is reproduced without connecting the dynamometer to an engine under test. The engine testing apparatus is provided with an output portion that supplies the control command value stored in the memory portion to the dynamometer with reference to an engine output signal showing the start of the reproducing period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, MEIDENSHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuaki Suzuki, Takuya Kusakabe, Masato Hayasaka, Yoshinao Sato, Nobuhiko Asakura, Sou Shimizu, Yoshimasa Sawada, Takao Akiyama, Shinya Nagao, Yoshiharu Kido
  • Patent number: 9727049
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides various methods for tool condition monitoring, including systems for implementing such monitoring. An exemplary method includes receiving data associated with a process performed on wafers by an integrated circuit manufacturing process tool; and monitoring a condition of the integrated circuit manufacturing process tool using the data. The monitoring includes evaluating the data based on an abnormality identification criterion, an abnormality filtering criterion, and an abnormality threshold to determine whether the data meets an alarm threshold. The method may further include issuing an alarm when the data meets the alarm threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Chia-Tong Ho, Po-Feng Tsai, Jung-Chang Chen, Tze-Liang Lee, Jo Fei Wang, Jong-I Mou, Chin-Hsiang Lin
  • Patent number: 9720046
    Abstract: A battery state estimating device being one aspect of the present invention detects a current and a terminal voltage of a secondary battery, estimates a terminal voltage of the secondary battery which is based on a predetermined battery model by using measured values I(k) and V(k) respectively of the detected current and the detected terminal voltage, and sequentially identifies a parameter ?^(k) of the battery model in such a way that the difference between a value based on the measured value of the terminal voltage and an estimate value of the terminal voltage converges to zero. Then, when a certain parameter ?n in the identified parameter is equal to or larger than a predetermined first threshold ?1, the battery state estimating device performs upper limit processing of setting the value of the certain parameter ?n to the first threshold ?1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Tazoe, Hideo Nakamura, Shiho Umeki
  • Patent number: 9706952
    Abstract: A system for heart performance characterization and abnormality detection detects peaks and at least one of, a valley and a baseline comprising a substantially zero voltage level, of received signal data representing oxygen content of blood in a patient vessel over multiple heart beat cycles. The signal processor determines signal parameters including at least one of, (a) a signal amplitude magnitude between a maximum peak and minimum valley, of the received signal data, (b) a signal amplitude magnitude between a maximum peak and a baseline, of the received signal data and (c) a signal amplitude magnitude between a second highest maximum peak and minimum valley, of the received signal data. The system compares a determined signal parameter or value derived from the determined signal parameter, with a threshold value and generates an alert message associated with the threshold, in response to the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
    Inventor: Hongxuan Zhang
  • Patent number: 9658192
    Abstract: In a general methodology for insulation defect identification in a generator core, a Chattock coil is used to measure magnetic potential difference between teeth. Physical knowledge and empirical knowledge is combined in a model to predict insulation damage location and severity. Measurements are taken at multiple excitation frequencies to solve for multiple characteristics of the defect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignees: Siemens Corporation, Siemens Energy, Inc.
    Inventors: Xuefei Guan, Jingdan Zhang, Shaohua Kevin Zhou, Mark W. Fischer, Waheed A. Abbasi, Scott A. Karstetter, Christopher John William Adams
  • Patent number: 9626335
    Abstract: A method of analog to digital conversion for a field device having an analog to digital converter system (ADCS) including an ADC and a plurality of filters. An analog sensing signal is received from a sensor which measures a level of a physical parameter in a manufacturing system that runs a physical process. A level of the physical parameter is compared to reference noise data. Based on the comparing, at least one ADCS parameter is determined. The ADCS parameter is implemented to configure the ADCS. The ADCS is utilized with the ADCS parameter to generate a filtered digitized sensing signal from the analog sensing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Mark L. Muldowney, Gary Wilks, Yang Wang
  • Patent number: 9618037
    Abstract: A method includes receiving an input signal containing information associated with a rolling element bearing and/or a piece of equipment containing the rolling element bearing. The method also includes decomposing the input signal into a frequency-domain signal and determining at least one family of frequencies corresponding to at least one failure mode of the rolling element bearing. The method further includes generating a reconstructed input signal using the at least one family of frequencies and the frequency-domain signal. In addition, the method includes determining, using the reconstructed input signal, an indicator identifying an overall health of the rolling element bearing. The indicator could be determined using a baseline signal associated with either (i) normal operation of the rolling element bearing and/or the piece of equipment or (ii) defective operation of the rolling element bearing and/or the piece of equipment (where a severity of the defective operation will increase over time).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Chinmaya Kar, Rajat Sadana, Venkataramana B. Kini, Meenakshi Sunderam, Joydeb Mukherjee, Vedika Agrawal
  • Patent number: 9612351
    Abstract: A system and method for attenuating noise in seismic data representative of a subsurface region of interest including receiving the seismic data; transforming the seismic data into a domain wherein the seismic data have a sparse or compressible representation to create transformed seismic data; dividing the domain into windows wherein the windows represent known spatio-temporal locations in the seismic data; determining statistics of the transformed seismic data in each window; determining a filter for each window based on the statistics of the transformed data; applying the filter for each window to the transformed seismic data in each window to create filtered seismic data; and performing an inverse transform of the filtered seismic data to create noise-attenuated seismic data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: CHEVRON U.S.A. INC.
    Inventors: Bogdan Kustowski, Gilles Hennenfent, Jeffrey Cole
  • Patent number: 9593978
    Abstract: In a device and method for measuring a mass flow rate of a fluid, a housing has two hollow pipes communicating with one another and having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, an electromagnetic excitation unit excites vibrations in the hollow pipes, two electromagnetic adapters are associated correspondingly with the two pipes and provides signals which are proportional to a speed of vibrations of the pipes of said housing, and an electronic block connected with the electromagnetic excitation unit and with the electromagnetic adapters determines a mass flow rate of a fluid, a correction associated with inclusions in the fluid and constituted by a ratio of a voltage amplitude of the adapters and a voltage amplitude of excitation of vibrations by the electromagnetic excitation unit, and a corrected mass flow rate of the fluid based on the determined mass flow and the determined correction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: ARGOSY TECHNOLOGIES
    Inventors: Alexander Dondoshansky, Peter Mouler
  • Patent number: 9541389
    Abstract: A center-of-gravity detecting system includes a motion detector for detecting a vertical motion of a travelling object and a horizontal motion of the travelling object, and an arithmetic unit that calculates a center-of-gravity location of the travelling object using the frequency of a vertical motion of the travelling object, a frequency of the horizontal motion of the travelling object, a central angle of the horizontal motion of the travelling object, and the width of the traveling object. The arithmetic unit calculates a center-of-gravity location, using the frequency of the vertical motion, a frequency of the horizontal motion, the center-of-gravity location, and the length of the travelling object in the travel direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF MARINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventor: Yutaka Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9524800
    Abstract: Embodiments relate methods and computer program products for performance testing of a solid state memory devices. The method includes operating a first solid state memory device for a period of time and capturing state information of the first solid state memory device after the period of time. The method also includes storing the state information in a control file and loading the control file onto a second solid state memory device. Once the control file has been loaded into the second solid state memory device the state information can be adapted to fix any issues due to physical variation. Performance testing can then be preformed on the second solid state memory device without preconditioning the second solid state memory device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Thomas J. Griffin, Dustin J. VanStee
  • Patent number: 9513152
    Abstract: A liquid level monitoring and transmission system includes a mechanical assembly in communication with the liquid in a container and a dual electronic encoder assembly in communication with the mechanical assembly for determining liquid level. The dual electronic encoder assembly includes a first encoder for encoding data indicative of fine level measurements and a second encoder for encoding data indicative of coarse level measurements. The system further includes at least one processor for controlling operation of the first and second encoders and for processing encoded data therefrom and a power control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Varec, Inc.
    Inventor: Samuel Dirk Holcomb
  • Patent number: 9501450
    Abstract: System for collecting ocean data includes a trawl-resistant bottom mooring having a base unit and profiler on board. Method for collecting ocean data includes steps for receiving and executing a configuration file in the base unit and the profiler, collecting data, transmitting the data to a receiving station, and transferring to and archiving the data in the base unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Richard W. Gould, Jeffrey W. Book, Mark S. Hulbert, Andrew J. Quaid, Richard H. Smith, Emery W. Hughes, Berry L. McCormick, David N. McNeal, J Carey Harrington
  • Patent number: 9488537
    Abstract: The present system determines a significant stress value (?) of a component made of magnetizable material. The system has a generating stage for generating a magnetic field of varying amplitude (H); and also includes a pickup stage for acquiring a Barkhausen noise signal (MBN) alongside variations in the amplitude (H) of the magnetic field. The system is characterized by having a processing unit for calculating the reciprocal (1/MBNmax) of the maximum value (MBNmax) of the signal (MBN), alongside variations in the amplitude (H) of the magnetic field. The processing unit has a memory stage storing a linear relation between the reciprocal (1/MBNmax) of the maximum value and the significant stress value (?).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: AGUSTA WESTLAND S.P.A.
    Inventors: David C. Jiles, Lukasz Mierczak, Luigi Merletti, Gabriele Fantoni
  • Patent number: 9484894
    Abstract: A duty cycle tuner measures high and low periods of a signal, calculates an actual duty cycle, generates duty control signals based on the actual duty cycle and a desired duty cycle, and adjusts the duty cycle responsive to the duty control signals. The high and low periods are measured using high-speed counters to provide a high count for the high period and a low count for the low period. The actual duty cycle value is then computed from the high and low counts, and compared to the desired duty cycle value to generate increment and decrement signals which may be positive or zero, to increase, decrease or maintain the actual duty cycle. In this manner, even if the high and low counts are subject to variations due to process, temperature or power supply voltage, their ratio is independent of such variations, so the tuner is immune to those effects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Takeo Yasuda
  • Patent number: 9483385
    Abstract: To provide a technique for generating, at a high speed, a smaller-sized set that satisfies an intended property such as, for example, being pair-wise, and includes many test cases that match a set of existing test cases given as an input, candidates to be used from a set of existing input test cases are determined in the following manner: for some parameters, values to be held by test case candidates are determined; test cases having the determined values, among those included in the set of input test cases, are selected as the candidates. A test case having the highest score among one or more test case candidates generated with the method of the related art and one or more test case candidates selected from the set of input test cases is added to a set of output test cases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ken Mizuno, Taiga Nakamura, Hironori Takeuchi