Patents Examined by George Koch
  • Patent number: 8163115
    Abstract: A method, system and article for producing an envelope having improved seal integrity. The method comprises the steps of disposing at least one material at the interface of the adhesive seal between the flap and the body portion of the envelope, which material exhibits a characteristic property when combined with an activating agent. The envelope is then sealed by closing the flap onto the body portion of the envelope such that the activating agent combines with the material along the sealing interface. The sealing interface is inspected to determine whether the material exhibits the characteristic property thereby confirming that a seal has been produced between the flap and body portion of the envelope. The system and article are directed to the various modules of a mailpiece fabrication system employed to produce the mailpiece including an inspection module for confirming that a seal has been formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2012
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: John Kline, Jay Reichelsheimer
  • Patent number: 8158210
    Abstract: Systems and methods for avoidance of tape flaw or splices in manufacturing are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of applying a tape onto a workpiece includes feeding the tape from a tape supply using a tape application assembly, and applying the tape onto the workpiece using the tape application assembly. Simultaneously with the feeding of the tape, the tape is monitored for a marker indicating a defect within the tape, the marker being spaced apart along the tape from the defect such that the marker arrives prior to the defect. The method further includes detecting the marker, and avoiding the application of a portion of the tape that includes the defect onto the workpiece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Robert A. Kramp
  • Patent number: 8151850
    Abstract: The object of the present disclosure is to provide a label application device which can easily perform label applying operation by protruding a portion of the label towards an article in a mountain-shape and automatically applying the label.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Sato, Kabushiki Kaisha Sato Chishiki Zaisan Kenkyusyo
    Inventor: Kenji Murakami
  • Patent number: 8147630
    Abstract: An improved wafer-to-wafer bonding method includes aligning an upper and a lower wafer and initiating a bond at a single point by applying pressure to a single point of the upper wafer via the flow of pressurized gas through a port terminating at the single point. The bond-front propagates radially across the aligned oppositely oriented wafer surfaces at a set radial velocity rate bringing the two wafer surfaces into full atomic contact by controlling the gas pressure and/or controlling the velocity of the motion of the lower wafer up toward the upper wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Suss Microtec Lithography, GmbH
    Inventor: Gregory George
  • Patent number: 8146639
    Abstract: The present invention refers to a process and an apparatus for combination of steel tubes or pipes with plastic linings, in which steam is used as heat carrier to heat the steel tubes or pipes lined with linings. The apparatus comprises a multifunctional combining chamber, a multifunctional carriage for conveying tubes or pipes, an arrangement for steam circulating, which continuously supplies re-usable steam, a cooling and shaping arrangement and a controlling device. The steam circulating system comprises a furnace for re-heating the steam and means for supplying supplementing steam. The percentage of passing the qualification control is increased up to 99.9% by embodiment of the method and/or apparatus according to the present invention, while it is only 97% by a conventional apparatus, and the production capacity is increased by 15%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Inventor: Mingwei Zhang
  • Patent number: 8142837
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste application method includes: a first step of unwinding a core material (2) wound in a coil shape; a second step of applying an electrode mixture paste (5) to both sides of the core material; a third step of adjusting an application amount of the electrode mixture paste; a fourth step of drying a paste-coated sheet with the electrode mixture paste applied to the both sides thereof; and a fifth step of winding the paste-coated sheet (6) in a coil shape, wherein, in the fifth step, the paste-coated sheet is wound such that each of widthwise edge portions of a mixture-formed portion (9) is prevented from sequentially overlapping itself. This can achieve a stable method for applying an electrode mixture paste in which the deformation of an electrode caused by a dog-bone shape generated at both edge portions of a mixture-formed portion can be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Okawa, Toru Okamoto, Tomoki Ikeda, Masao Fukuda
  • Patent number: 8133536
    Abstract: The liquid coating method includes the step of ejecting droplets from nozzles of a recording head onto an imaging region of a surface of a substrate placed on a support plate, wherein a dot pitch ? that is an interval between landing positions of the droplets on the surface of the substrate satisfies a following condition: ? ? 2 ? 3 ? V ? ( 1 + cos ? ? ? a ) ? sin ? ? ? a ? ? ( 1 - cos ? ? ? a ) ? ( 2 + cos ? ? ? a ) 3 where V stands for a volume of a droplet ejected from each of the nozzles and ?a stands for an advancing contact angle of the droplet against the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Mataki, Hirotaka Watano, Seiichi Inoue
  • Patent number: 8133528
    Abstract: An electron gun evaporation apparatus capable of efficiently using an evaporation source includes an electron beam position controller which determines, as an applicable range, a range within which the distribution of the film thickness growth rate is almost constant in each scanning direction of an electron beam to be applied to an evaporation source in a crucible for the irradiation position of the electron beam, on the basis of information pertaining to the electron beam irradiation position and the film thickness growth rate in the electron beam irradiation position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Canon Anelva Corporation
    Inventor: Masato Nakayama
  • Patent number: 8128768
    Abstract: The present invention provide an apparatus for manufacturing a bonded substrate that suppresses a defect in the bonded substrate. When the pressure in a vacuum chamber is at the atmospheric level, upper and lower chuck units respectively attract substrates through vacuum. When the vacuum chamber is depressurized, each chuck unit electrostatically attracts the associated substrate. During the depressurization of the vacuum chamber, the pressure for attracting each substrate to the associated chuck unit is controlled to be equal to the pressure in the vacuum chamber. This prevents each substrate from falling from or moving relative to the associated chuck unit. The first and second substrates are thus bonded together as accurately aligned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Koji Hashizume, Yoshimasa Miyajima, Norihiko Hatano, Tetsuji Kadowaki
  • Patent number: 8128769
    Abstract: A system and a method for continuously manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, which can suppress the occurrence of stripe defects, are provided, and the system includes carrier film feeding means; peeling means for peeling off a sheet piece of a polarizing film and a pressure-sensitive adhesive from a carrier film; take-up means for taking up the carrier film; bonding means for bonding the sheet piece to a liquid crystal panel with the pressure-sensitive adhesive interposed therebetween to form a liquid crystal display device; and speed control means for controlling the take-up means and the bonding means so that the carrier film can be folded back while it is allowed to protrude from the front end of the peeling means toward the bonding means at least at a peeling-off end time when peeling off the sheet piece from the carrier film is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Nitto Denko Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuya Hada, Satoshi Hirata, Seiji Kondo
  • Patent number: 8124190
    Abstract: A method for discharging a liquid material includes performing a scan by moving a discharge target having a film formation area and a plurality of nozzles forming a nozzle row with respect to each other, and discharging a liquid material as droplets from the nozzles onto the film formation area by selectively applying one of drive waveforms generated using time division to an energy generation element of each of the nozzles in synchronization with the scan. The discharging of the liquid material includes applying a first drive waveform to a first nozzle of the nozzle row and a second drive waveform having a different discharge timing from the first drive waveform to a second nozzle of the nozzle row with the second nozzle being adjacent to the first nozzle, and changing a combination of the first and second drive waveforms selected from the drive waveforms at least once.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Yoichi Miyasaka
  • Patent number: 8113255
    Abstract: A device for positioning the conveyor belt running through machines for thermal treatment of filaments, essentially constituted by a pressurized chamber (1) traversed by a conveyor belt (2) enclosed at each end by a sealing head mounted on a frame or movable door (3) connected to the pressurized chamber (1) by a bellows (4), each sealing head including a head of horizontal superposed rollers (5, 6) which are pressed against the opposite surfaces of the conveyor belt (2). The device includes a positioning elements (8) and a position control elements (9) acting on a very short region immediately adjacent each sealing head. The invention is more particularly applicable in the field of the textile industry, in particular of the field of treating filaments by elements of thermal treatment machines currently called heat setting machines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Superba
    Inventors: Philippe Massotte, Michel Mazoyer, Serge Munschi
  • Patent number: 8110052
    Abstract: The present invention provides novel systems and methods for processing packages through a delivery network using a hub assist label. Generally described, the hub assist label includes indicia of a sequence of sorting locations that designates the flow of a package through a delivery network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
    Inventors: John Olsen, David Bradley, Rhesa Jenkins
  • Patent number: 8109311
    Abstract: A bookbinding apparatus for bookbinding a sheet by applying adhesive including, an adhesive tank for storing adhesive; first and second heaters for heating the adhesive; a first adhesive temperature sensor for detecting temperature of the adhesive at a first position; a second adhesive temperature sensor for detecting temperature of the adhesive at a second position; an agitation member for agitating the adhesive in the adhesive tank; and a control device, wherein the control device operates, the agitation member after the heaters are turned on, then turns off the second heater and continues to have the first heater on after the second heater has been turned off when the second adhesive temperature sensor detects that adhesive temperature has reached a first temperature that is higher than an application temperature, and then completes a warm-up when the first adhesive temperature sensor detects that adhesive temperature has reached the application temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 8100160
    Abstract: A film transfer apparatus includes an application unit, a transfer unit downstream of the application unit, and at least one third unit for further processing a printing material with a transfer layer applied. In the prior art, if contact pressure is exerted on coated printing material again in a following nip, the adhesive layer under the transfer layer can be pressed out. A blanket can then be contaminated with adhesive, ink itself can be contaminated and parts of the transfer layer can be detached from the coated sheet. In order to avoid pressing out the adhesive, measured values in the transfer unit are compared with corresponding values in the third unit. At least one controlled variable in the units can then be readjusted on the basis of a difference, to at least reduce the quantity of adhesive squeezed out. A transfer method and a covering surface are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Peter Franzen, Nils Klockmann, Alexander Weber
  • Patent number: 8092625
    Abstract: This invention relates to a dice placement assembly for placing dice on a carrier. The assembly includes a support platform with a clamp mechanism configured to clamp the carrier onto said platform, and at least one camera operatively directed at the platform to detect alignment fiducials on the carrier. The assembly also includes a placement device having a vacuum mechanism to retrieve the dice from a supply mechanism, said placement device having actuators to align the dice with the carrier and to place the dice thereon once aligned, and a heater to heat the dice prior to placement on the test bed. Further included is a controller operatively controlling the clamp mechanism, the camera and the placement device, to facilitate accurate placement of the dice on the carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: David Oliver Burke, Jan Waszczuk, Desmond Bruce Boyton, Craig Donald Strudwicke, William Granger, Jason Mark Thelander, Eric Patrick O'Donnell, Peter John Morley Sobey
  • Patent number: 8074691
    Abstract: A thickness measuring device of a laminating machine includes a mount, a stepper motor, a screw rod, a first contact-activated element, a second contact-activated element, and a microcontroller unit. The stepper motor is coupled to the mount. The screw rod is interlocked with the stepper motor. The first contact-activated element is provided at a position corresponding to and some distance below the screw rod. The second contact-activated element is provided at a position corresponding to and some distance above the screw rod. The microcontroller unit is electrically connected to the stepper motor, the first contact-activated element, and the second contact-activated element so as to provide initialization setting and exercise judgment and control after receiving a thickness measurement. Thus, the thickness of an object to be detected can be conveniently measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Tex Year Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Mei-Lien Chao, Yang-Chih Su
  • Patent number: 8066044
    Abstract: An apparatus for high speed labeling of produce including a turret which carries label depositor arms and continuously rotates so that its fully extended tangential speed matches the produce conveyor speed. The label depositor arms are reciprocated along a predetermined path by a mechanical linkage. A supply of pressurized air and vacuum are selectively delivered to the label depositor arms to pick-up a print-on-demand label and adhere it to the produce. One or more rotating turrets are included within a system for high speed labeling. The system monitors a common shaft which drives a conveyor that moves multiple lanes of produce under corresponding turrets. A conveyor offset signal in combination with a printer offset control, allows the system to independently synchronize the high-speed labeling operation at each lane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: Hurst International, LLC
    Inventors: Aron Lichtenberg, John F. Shaw, Duy P. Le, Heath Jensen
  • Patent number: 8057862
    Abstract: A method for jetting color ink includes determining an initial voltage value of a nozzle, wherein the initial voltage value corresponds to a predetermined jetting volume of the nozzle; determining a maximum adjusting voltage value of the nozzle, wherein the maximum adjusting voltage value may correspond to an allowable error value of the predetermined jetting volume; combining the initial voltage value with an adjusting voltage value to obtain a jetting voltage, wherein the adjusting voltage value may be randomly selected between zero to the maximum adjusting voltage value; and jetting the color ink from the nozzle according to the jetting voltage onto a sub-pixel in a pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: AU Optronics Corporation
    Inventors: Wen-Lung Chen, Shu-Chin Lee, Wei-Ya Wang
  • Patent number: 8056501
    Abstract: The problem regarding volatileness of a solvent in an EL forming material, which occurs in adopting printing, are solved. An EL layer is formed in a pixel portion of a light emitting device by printing. Upon formation of the EL layer, a printing chamber is pressurized to reach a pressure equal to or higher than the atmospheric pressure, and the printing chamber is filled with inert gas or set to a solvent atmosphere. Thus the difficulty in forming an EL layer by printing is eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunpei Yamazaki