Patents Examined by Demetrius Pretlow
  • Patent number: 9703429
    Abstract: A touch detection device includes: a first sensor having a first capacitance; a monitoring unit configured to monitor the first capacitance of the first sensor at a first period; a determining unit configured to determine whether the first capacitance monitored by the monitoring unit exceeds a first threshold; and a period changing unit configured to change the first period into a second period that is shorter than the first period when the determining unit determines that the first capacitance exceeds the first threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Tomonori Fujii
  • Patent number: 9696362
    Abstract: A clamp meter configured to receive a removable and rechargeable battery pack. The clamp meter includes a main body having a first axis, a handle, a clamp, a trigger, and a display. The handle has a second axis and includes a first recess configured to receive the battery pack. The first recess includes at least first and second electrical terminals which are exposed when the battery pack is not inserted into the first recess. The second axis forms an oblique angle with the first axis, and the battery pack is inserted into the first recess along the second axis. The clamp is coupled to the main body, aligned with the first axis, and operable to measure an electrical characteristic of a conductor based on an induced current. The trigger is operable to selectively open and close the clamp, and the display configured to display an indication of the electrical characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: MILWAUKEE ELECTRIC TOOL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Evans H. Nguyen, Scott D. Bublitz, Jason R. Crowe, Mike N. Jones
  • Patent number: 9697757
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a method and system of determining a location of a line fault of a panel. The method comprises: connecting a front end point of a metal wire that is determined to have suffered the line fault to a probe of a test instrument, the other probe of the test instrument being connected to a common electrode wire; performing a fusing-off processing on the metal wire according to a preset rule; and determining the location of the line fault of the metal wire based on a variation in the readings from the test instrument upon the fusing-off of the metal wire. The system comprises: a test instrument, one probe of which being connected to a front end point of a metal wire that is determined to have suffered the line fault, the other probe of which being connected to a common electrode wire; and a laser for performing a fusing-off processing on the metal wire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignees: Boe Technoogy Group Co., Ltd., Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yu Ai
  • Patent number: 9698456
    Abstract: A fill level measuring device (3) operating with the transit time method and a termination element (1) for a waveguide (2) of the fill level measuring device (3) has a carrier element (13) that is arranged between a first cylinder element (11) and a second cylinder element (12) and has an impedance-matching component (15) that is arranged on the carrier element (13).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: Krohne S.A.S.
    Inventor: Vincent Pichot
  • Patent number: 9696372
    Abstract: Multiple planes within the sample are exposed from a single perspective for contact by an electrical probe. The sample can be milled at a non-orthogonal angle to expose different layers as sloped surfaces. The sloped edges of multiple, parallel conductor planes provide access to the multiple levels from above. The planes can be accessed, for example, for contacting with an electrical probe for applying or sensing a voltage. The level of an exposed layer to be contacted can be identified, for example, by counting down the exposed layers from the sample surface, since the non-orthogonal mill makes all layers visible from above. Alternatively, the sample can be milled orthogonally to the surface, and then tilted and/or rotated to provide access to multiple levels of the device. The milling is preferably performed away from the region of interest, to provide electrical access to the region while minimizing damage to the region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: FEI Company
    Inventors: Jeffrey Blackwood, Sang Hoon Lee, Michael Schmidt, Stacey Stone, Karey Holland
  • Patent number: 9689916
    Abstract: In a method for determining a set value of a pressure for inspection in a wafer inspection apparatus, a surrounding space sealable between a chuck top and a probe card by a vacuum mechanism is evacuated and a highest negative pressure in the surrounding space is measured as a reference pressure when the chuck top has floated by the evacuation. Then as a reference height position, a height position of the chuck top corresponding to the reference pressure is obtained. Further, a pressure in the surrounding space is decreased to a level lower than the reference pressure, the pressure in the surrounding space, when the chuck top reaches a target height position obtained by adding a preset overdrive amount for a press-contact state between the probe card and the wafer to the reference height position, is measured and the measured pressure is set as the set value of the pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventor: Hiroshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 9689936
    Abstract: An apparatus includes circuits including a first circuit and a second circuit, each circuit including subarrays of magnetic tunnel junctions, where: (1) the magnetic tunnel junctions in each subarray are arranged in rows, the magnetic tunnel junctions in each row are connected in series, and the rows are connected in parallel; and the subarrays are connected in series. The apparatus further comprises a field line configured to generate a first magnetic field for configuring an operating point of the first circuit based on a current flow through the field line, wherein impedance of one or more of the magnetic tunnel junctions in each of the plurality of rows of each subarray of magnetic tunnel junctions included in the first circuit is configured based on the first magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Crocus Technology Inc.
    Inventors: Bertrand F. Cambou, Douglas Lee, Yaron Oren-Pines, Stuart Rumley
  • Patent number: 9684090
    Abstract: Nulling utility locators including a transmitter element, a sensing element, and an electronic circuit for processing signals from the transmitting element to at least partially cancel each other and determine information associated with a buried utility are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: SEESCAN, INC.
    Inventors: Mark S. Olsson, Ray Merewether, Jan Soukup
  • Patent number: 9678131
    Abstract: A controller area network (CAN) includes a CAN bus having a CAN-H wire, a CAN-L wire, and a pair of CAN bus terminators located at opposite ends of the CAN bus. The CAN further includes a plurality of nodes including controllers wherein at least one of the controllers is a monitoring controller. The monitoring controller includes a detection control routine for isolating faults on the CAN bus including measuring a CAN-H wire voltage, measuring a CAN-L wire voltage, and isolating a short fault based upon the CAN-H wire voltage and the CAN-L wire voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Shengbing Jiang, Xinyu Du, Atul Nagose
  • Patent number: 9671515
    Abstract: This hydrant (2) comprises an electrically conductive body (3) having a generally tubular shape and intended for being fixed in the floor flush with a valve mounted on a pipe, for example a water distribution pipe. The hydrant comprises connection means suitable for connecting at least one electrically conductive wire (10) extending along the pipe, said connection means being connected to the body (3) such that electric continuity is maintained between the body (3) and each electrically conductive wire (10) during use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: SOCIETE PLYMOUTH FRANCAISE
    Inventors: Mounir Saad, Daniel Arnaud
  • Patent number: 9664753
    Abstract: A magnetic field sensor formed by a Hall cell having a first, second, third and fourth conduction nodes electrically coupled together by resistive paths. Flowing between the first and second conduction nodes is a control current. In the presence of a magnetic field, a difference of potential due to the Hall effect is generated between the third and fourth conduction nodes. An operational amplifier has an inverting input terminal coupled to the fourth conduction node, a non-inverting input terminal biased at the voltage at the third conduction node, and an output terminal coupled in feedback mode to the inverting input by a feedback resistor. The current generated in feedback through the feedback resistor generates a voltage indicating unbalancing, due to the Hall effect, between the third and fourth conductive nodes, and consequently indicates the intensity of the magnetic field that acts upon the Hall cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Giulio Ricotti, Marco Morelli, Marco Marchesi
  • Patent number: 9659585
    Abstract: A magnetic sensor has a bottom shield layer, an upper shield layer, and a sensor stack adjacent the upper shield layer. The sensor includes a seed layer between the bottom shield layer and an antiferromagnetic layer of the sensor stack. The seed layer has a magnetic layer adjacent the sensor stack and a nonmagnetic layer adjacent the bottom shield layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Eric Walter Singleton, Antonia Tsoukatos, Liwen Tan, Jae-Young Yi
  • Patent number: 9651586
    Abstract: A method for checking the plausibility of a measurement result for an electric current by a current sensor connected to an electrical circuit, the method including: making a predetermined change to the switching state of the electrical circuit; detecting, by the current sensor, a change to the electric current resulting from the change to the switching state as a measurement result; and checking the plausibility of the measurement result by contrasting the change to the switching state and the change to the electric current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG
    Inventors: Jörg Eckrich, Wolfgang Jöckel, Klaus Rink, Martin Haverkamp, Torsten Martin, Jens Herchenröder
  • Patent number: 9654089
    Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, a detection circuit configured to receive an output of a window comparator over a range of input values and to measure a difference between first and second thresholds of the window comparator, and a trim circuit configured to adjust at least one of the first or second thresholds using the measured difference between the first and second thresholds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gregory A. Maher, Kenneth O'Brien
  • Patent number: 9650815
    Abstract: A method of fitting a power closure member to a vehicle includes the steps of: (a) detecting, by current sensor, current drawn by a closure member actuator when the closure member is closed and a latch contacts a striker of a lock assembly for the closure member and (b) comparing, by computing device, a detected current to a predetermined current range representative of desired mechanical interference between the latch and the striker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory Alan Conner, Markus Link
  • Patent number: 9645175
    Abstract: An electrical current transducer including a housing (5), a magnetic field detector device (3) comprising a magnetic field detector (11), and a magnetic circuit (2) comprising a magnetic core (4) with a gap (6) and a grounding device (8) mounted on the magnetic core. The magnetic field detector is positioned in the gap (6). The grounding device comprises at least two parts (8a, 8b), a first part (8a) mounted against a first lateral side (14a) of the magnetic core and a second part (8b) mounted against a second lateral side (14b) of the magnetic core opposite the first lateral side. At least one of the first and second parts comprises clamp fixing extensions (30a, 30b) cooperating with the other of the first and second parts configured for clamping together the first and second parts around a portion of the magnetic core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: LEM Intellectual Property SA
    Inventor: Arnaud Labbe
  • Patent number: 9638823
    Abstract: A metal sensor includes a primary coil arranged in a first plane, a first compensation coil arranged in a second plane, a second compensation coil arranged in a third plane, and a magnetic field sensor arranged in a fourth plane. The first plane, the second plane, the third plane and the fourth plane are oriented parallel to one another and perpendicular to a common z-direction in each case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Andrej Albrecht, Tobias Zibold
  • Patent number: 9638735
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for detecting faults in excitation wiring. A first sum of a first high voltage and a first low voltage related to a first sensor is determined, where the first sensor is further related to an excitation voltage. A second sum of a second high voltage and a second low voltage related to a second sensor is determined, where the second sensor is further related to the excitation voltage. The excitation voltage is provided to both the first and second sensors using excitation wiring. A determination is made whether each of the first sum and the second sum changes beyond a threshold amount during a first time interval. After determining that each of the first sum and the second sum has changed beyond the threshold amount during the first time interval, an indication of a fault in the excitation wiring is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Glenn R. Reese, Joseph A. Schneider
  • Patent number: 9632129
    Abstract: Provided is an electronic device capable of checking whether a sub unit is connected to a main controller. The electronic device includes a main controller including a pulse width modulation (PWM) port, and at least one sub unit configured to receive a PWM signal from the main controller and to operate according to the PWM signal. The main controller checks whether the at least one sub unit is connected to the main controller via the PWM port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Young-hwa Song, Yun-su Kim
  • Patent number: 9632629
    Abstract: A capacitive sense array configured to improve noise immunity in detecting a presence of a conductive object is described. In one embodiment, a capacitive sense array includes at least a first set of sense elements disposed in straight parallel lines along a first axis of the capacitive sense array. A second set of sense elements is disposed in crooked paths about a second axis of the capacitive sense array. The first and second sets form a capacitive sense array that includes crooked sense paths in at least one of the axes of the sense array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: PARADE TECHNOLOGIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Patrick Norman Prendergast, Mark W. Rouse