Patents Examined by Crystal Barnes
  • Patent number: 7412344
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a system for synchronously controlling the testing of pluralities of devices, comprising a server, a switch coupled to the server, and a testing instrument coupled to the server. Pluralities of computers are coupled to the server respectively, wherein the pluralities of devices are respectively connected to the pluralities of computers and the switch under testing. The parameters of the pluralities of devices include a first type test item that is testable by the pluralities of computers, and a second type test item that is testable by the testing instrument. The switch includes a RF switch. The server is connected to the testing instrument by a GPIB cable (or other instrument control interface and the server is connected to the pluralities of computers via local area network (LAN) such as Ethernet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: Arcadyan Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Chao-Tang Chang, Chi-Chang Wang
  • Patent number: 7409871
    Abstract: A thermal mass flow meter associated with an inclination sensor that detects an angle of inclination of at least one portion of a thermal mass flow sensor relative to at least one reference axis. Based upon the detected angle of inclination, the output signal of the mass flow meter that is indicative of the mass flow rate of fluid through the sensor may be compensated to account for any inaccuracies relating to the orientation in which the mass flow meter is installed. Inaccuracies for which compensation may be provided include thermal siphoning effects and fluid buoyancy effects. By compensating for such inaccuracies, the mass flow meter may be used in any orientation, and/or may be used in non-inertial (e.g., accelerating) environments. The flow meter may be used as a stand alone device, or incorporated in a thermal mass flow controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: Celerity, Inc.
    Inventors: Chiun Wang, Eric J Redemann
  • Patent number: 7412304
    Abstract: There is provided a power system for an area containing a set of power consumers which can be applied to a collective housing consisting of a single or more buildings and can prevent power supply stop of a supply line having a higher priority. The system includes: means for cutting off each of the power supply lines in a single power consumer section from a remote management section by remote operation; means for setting the power consumption limit amount within the maximum power that can be supplied to the single power consumption section via the Internet; and means for setting the power supply priority for the power supply lines in advance and outputting an instruction to cut off power in the power supply line having the lowest power supply priority by the remote out-off means when the remote measurement value of the total power consumption amount exceeds the set value of the power consumption limit amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: IP Power Systems Corporation
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Uenou
  • Patent number: 7406365
    Abstract: In some embodiments, a power manager may be coupled to a load circuit and configured to receive an input signal indicating a line disturbance on a power supply line and to reduce a load requirement of the load circuit in accordance with the received signal. The power manager may be configured to selectively reduce power to components with low entrance latency while continuing to provide full power to components with high entrance latency. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2008
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Annabelle Pratt, Eugene Gorbatov, Pavan Kumar, Tomm V. Aldridge
  • Patent number: 7406360
    Abstract: A dummy substrate (17) differs from a substrate to be processed in having a first guide (G1) for assisting centering, however, it can be handled as a substitute of the substrate to be processed. In a process chamber (2), a second guide (G2) is arranged to assist the dummy substrate (17) to center. To detect a transfer shift of a transfer mechanism (TRM), at first, the dummy substrate (17) is centered to a placing table (14) on the placing table (14) or at an upper position thereof by engagement of the first and the second guides (G1, G2). The dummy substrate (17) centered in such a manner is received by the transfer mechanism (TRM) and transferred to a detector (11). Then, a detection value of a decentering quantity and that in a decentering direction of the dummy substrate (17) are obtained by the detector (11), and a transfer shift of the transfer mechanism (TRM) is obtained based on the detection values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2008
    Assignee: Tokyo Elctron Limited
    Inventor: Wataru Machiyama
  • Patent number: 7401934
    Abstract: A file system for a stage lighting system that maintains the different files associated with the stage lighting system. Each of the files that can represent an effect are maintained within the system within a configuration file. The configuration file can be updated on each start of the system so that the system can maintain information indicative of current configuration files. A test mode can also be entered in which a pre-formed show can be tested against the current state of the configuration files.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Assignee: Production Resource Group, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Mark A. Hunt
  • Patent number: 7403839
    Abstract: A moisture monitoring and control system comprising: 1) a plurality of moisture sensors; 2) one or more local or remote control stations capable of monitoring and controlling each of the individual elements of the moisture monitoring and control system; 3) at least one water control valve capable of turning off the water supply to all or at least one water supply zone and powered by an aerogel capacitor; and 4) a plurality of non-interfering RF communications devices at each of the sensor, control and water control valve locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2008
    Inventor: Joshua Kaplan
  • Patent number: 7400935
    Abstract: A system and method for implementing an indirect controller for a plant. A plant can be provided with both a direct controller and an indirect controller with a system model or a committee of system models. When the system model has sufficient integrity to satisfy the plant requirements, i.e., when the system model has been sufficiently trained, the indirect controller with the system model is automatically enabled to replace the direct controller. When the performance falls, the direct controller can automatically assume operation of the plant, preferably maintaining operation in a control region suitable for generating additional training data for the system model. Alternatively, the system model incorporates a committee of models. Various types of sources for errors in the committee of models can be detected and used to implement strategies to improve the quality of the committee.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2008
    Assignee: NeuCo, Inc.
    Inventors: Wesley Curt Lefebvre, Daniel W. Kohn
  • Patent number: 7398132
    Abstract: Described is a method and system for analyzing throughput of a production line. The method includes selecting among the stations, a set of susceptible stations that are affected by at least one selected event, ranking the susceptible stations with respect to a selected event and the predetermined criteria to determine an ordered list of more susceptible stations, altering the selected events to generate a new set of events, reranking the susceptible stations with respect to the selected events comprising the new event to determine a new ordered list of more susceptible stations and determining the most susceptible station based on a comparison criterion of the original ordered list of more susceptible stations and the new ordered list of more susceptible stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventor: Eric A. Steinhilper
  • Patent number: 7389327
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to make information necessary for judging whether control output is possible closer to the latest information than in the conventional method or made the latest, and shorten the time from control start to control execution. In a control and monitoring system for a power system which controls monitoring control objects by supplying a control instruction from a master unit 6 to a plurality of input/output terminal devices BCU1, BCU2, and so on provided for each of the plurality of monitoring control objects in a power system, the master unit 6 starts operations to acquire information necessary for judging whether control output to the input/output terminal devices BCU1, BCU2, and so on is possible at the time of control object selection notification from the master unit 6 to the input/output terminal devices BCU1, BCU2, and so on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideki Kitahara
  • Patent number: 7386052
    Abstract: The invention relates to an automation device, with which a multiplicity of physically distributed functional units communicate with each other by means of a common transmission protocol. The device has a microcontroller (110), which is assigned at least one clock generator (120) and one memory unit (150), and which is connected at least to one data sink (130), which is designed to accept a received data bit-stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: ABB Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Heiko Kresse, Andreas Stelter, Ralf Schaeffer
  • Patent number: 7385503
    Abstract: A network includes a plurality of wirelessly interconnected self-organizing network (SON) devices for relaying signals in a self-organizing network and a field device for originating output signals. The sensor is configured to transmit the output signals to at least one of the SON devices, and the SON devices do not originate signals but only relay signals originated externally. At least one of the SON devices is self-powered by harvesting energy from an adjacent energy source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignee: Rosemount, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Ashley Wells, Robert J. Karschnia
  • Patent number: 7383158
    Abstract: A system for servicing a computer controlled machine comprising: a computer controlled machine including a device operable to perform a function, a controller controlling the operation of that device, and a data access port for transferring data and commands from the controller; and a service tool operably connected to the data access port, the service tool including a remote communications capability, a computer, and diagnostics and graphing software; and an expert observer system operably linked to the remote communications capability of the service tool and including historical machine data, machine sales information, software revisions for the controller, additional diagnostics software, and an expert observer capable of providing a mentor capability to the operator of a service tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2008
    Assignee: Trane International Inc.
    Inventors: Robert E. Krocker, Terence D. Baier, Merle A. Renaud, Paul C. Rentmeester, Robert M. Swanson, Patrick J. Wilson, Kirk W. Johnson
  • Patent number: 7376469
    Abstract: The present invention concerns methods and apparatus for enabling manual control over selection of a value for at least one operating parameter of a computer system resource. Manual control is enabled by de-coupling a pointer of a graphical indicator and control from an automated system advisor. During automated operation, the automated system advisor selects the value for the parameter of the computer system resource as indicated on a scale of the graphical indicator and control by the pointer. When the pointer of the graphical indicator is under manual control, a user can select the value of the at least one operating parameter of the computer system resource using the pointer of the graphical indicator and control. The present invention also concerns methods and apparatus for disabling manual control over selection of a value for at least one operating parameter of a computer system resource by re-coupling the pointer to an automated system advisor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Todd M. Eischeid, Mark E. Molander
  • Patent number: 7358781
    Abstract: The invention relates to an automation device, in which a multiplicity of physically distributed functional units communicate with each other by means of a common transmission protocol. The device has a microcontroller (110), which is assigned at least one clock generator (120) and one memory unit (150), and which is connected at least to one data source (140), which is designed to output a data bit-stream to be transmitted. A sequential sequence of equidistant samples of a sinusoidal time profile is stored in the memory unit (150), such that it can be called up, in such a manner that the samples can be output using either the clock of the first clock generator or the clock of the second clock generator, depending on the data bit-stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2008
    Assignee: ABB Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Heiko Kresse, Andreas Stelter, Ralf Schaeffer
  • Patent number: 6937909
    Abstract: A pattern recognition adaptive controller configured to dynamically adjust proportional gain and integral time control parameters based upon patterns that characterize the closed-loop response. The pattern recognition adaptive controller receives a sampled signal representative of the controlled variable, and determines a smoothed signal based on the sampled signal. The controller determines an estimated noise level of the sampled signal and determines if the control output and process output are oscillating quickly based on predefined criteria. The controller adjusts the gain used by the controller if the control output and process output are oscillating quickly. If the control output and process are not oscillating quickly, the controller determines whether there has been a significant load disturbance, whether there is an insignificant pattern, and/or whether the control output is saturated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: John E. Seem
  • Patent number: 6832186
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and method for emulating the operation of storage devices deployed in a host computer system. The inventive approach preferably involves the use of an emulator employing storage space and equipment specifically allocated for the emulation of particular storage devices associated with the host computer. Emulating storage devices preferably preserve their data through various possible power cycling operations of the emulated devices. The emulating or emulator devices may generally be disposed inside or outside of the emulator housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2004
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Gordon Margulieux
  • Patent number: 6424871
    Abstract: The present invention provides a rotary machine integrated with a control device, which is effective to reduce the cost of manufacture of a variable-speed pump or the like, and allows control programs to be easily established at the installation site. The present invention also provides an inverter device suitable for the above mentioned rotary machine. A rotary machine and control device combination comprises a rotary machine such as a pump, a fan, or the like and a control device integral therewith. The rotary machine has an inverter device for operating the rotary machine, a memory for storing a control program for the inverter device and a program for controlling operation of the rotary machine, a CPU operable according to the programs stored in the memory, an input and output unit connected to sensors and switches positioned in the rotary machine, one or more serial ports (14) connected to the CPU (12), and device for rewriting contents stored in the memory (11).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2002
    Assignees: Ebara Corporation, Ebara Densan Ltd.
    Inventors: Kaoru Nakajima, Yasuki Tadokoro