Patents Examined by Patrick J Assouad
  • Patent number: 7388382
    Abstract: An instrument is disclosed for measuring resistivity of Earth formations from within a conductive pipe inside a wellbore drilled through the formations. The instrument includes a plurality of housings connected end to end and adapted to traverse the wellbore. At least one electrode is disposed on each housing. Each electrode is adapted to be placed in electrical contact with the inside of the pipe. The instrument includes a source of electrical current, a digital voltage measuring circuit and a switch. The switch is arranged to connect the source of electrical current between one of the electrodes and a current return at a selectable one of the top of the pipe and a location near the Earth's surface at a selected distance from the top of the pipe, and to connect selected pairs of the electrodes to the digital voltage measuring circuit. The pairs are selected to make voltage measurements corresponding to selected axial distances and selected lateral depths in the Earth formations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: KJT Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Kurt M. Strack, Horst Rueter
  • Patent number: 7222034
    Abstract: An oscilloscope performs an in-circuit measurement of voltage across, and current through, a core winding of an inductor, and derives the actual B and H values with n number of turns, receives data indicative of the magnetic length of the circuit, and plots the B_H curve. The oscilloscope then derives the value of Saturation flux density (Bsat), Remnant flux density (Br), Permeability (?), and Coercivity (Hc) from this B-H plot. Characterizing the operating region of the magnetic component while it operates in a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) under test, provides information concerning the stability of the power supply that was heretofore unavailable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: P. E. Ramesh, Godfree Coelho
  • Patent number: 7222051
    Abstract: A working machine maintenance system having a plurality of working machines. A center server is provided that manages maintenance on the plurality of working machines by engaging in data exchange through bidirectional communication with each of the plurality of working machines via a communication line. The working machines each include an operation data storage device, an operation device operated to enter a maintenance work completion, a data transmission device, a data reception device, and a display device at which the maintenance information is displayed. The center server includes a data reception device that receives the operation data, the maintenance work completion data, and the maintenance data that have been transmitted, an operation database in which the operation data are stored, a maintenance database, a calculation device that calculates maintenance timing. and a data transmission device that transmits data related to the maintenance information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Koichi Shibata, Hiroshi Watanabe, Hiroshi Ogura, Genroku Sugiyama, Hiroyuki Adachi, Hideo Karasawa
  • Patent number: 7209859
    Abstract: A system, comprising a plurality of slave devices collecting real time data from process stations, a master device receiving the collected data from the plurality of slave devices, wherein the master device polls the plurality of slave devices in a predetermined order and an analysis device processing the collected data and producing output data as a function of the collected data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Linxberg Technology, LLC
    Inventor: Alex G. Zeif
  • Patent number: 7191097
    Abstract: Real-time condition data indicative of conditions is collected from at least one sensor at a particular location or from a plurality of sensors at different locations over time. The data collected from different locations is time-synchronized to produce data indicative of conditions at the different locations at one or more times. Real-time position data indicative of the location(s) of the sensor(s) are also collected over time. The collected real-time condition data are correlated with the collected real-time position data to produce correlated data indicative of conditions at the one or more locations over time. At least a portion of the collected and correlated data is analyzed to determine conditions at the one or more locations over time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2007
    Assignee: United States of America
    Inventors: Larry Alan Lee, Sidney C. Soderholm, Michael Flemmer, Jennifer L. Hornsby-Myers, Ramesh Gali
  • Patent number: 7181355
    Abstract: Production condition data and product quality data in a production line are monitored and stored in a production history database. When a quality deterioration event in the production line is detected while checking the product quality data, the improvement contents of the quality deterioration factor and production conditions are extracted. The extracted results and pre-stored quality improvement history data are collated with each other in order to confirm the validity thereof, and a simulation of the phenomenon of the production line is executed in order to verify the correctness. When the validity and correctness are verified, the production condition for the production line are revised to improve the quality deterioration factor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Haruhiko Kondo, Tomoaki Kubo
  • Patent number: 7171329
    Abstract: A system and method for determining if a first and second device are co-located includes first and second sensors for receiving a sample signal. Each sensor is coupled to the first and second devices. The first and second devices each responsively generate a first and second signal representing the sampled signal. Also included is a transmission device located at the first device for transmitting the first signal to the second device and a receiving device located at the second device for receiving the first signal from the first device. Finally, a signal analysis device determines if the first and second devices are co-located.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2007
    Assignee: Polycom, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Rodman, Gil Pearson
  • Patent number: 7171323
    Abstract: An integrated circuit is provided comprising a processor, an onboard system clock having a ring oscillator for generating a clock signal, a memory, and clock trim circuitry. The processor is arranged to, in response to receiving an external signal, determine the number of cycles of the clock signal during a predetermined number of cycles of the external signal or the number of cycles of the external signal during a predetermined number of cycles of the clock signal and to output the determined number of cycles to an external circuit. The processor is also arranged to, in response to receiving a trim value based on the determined number of cycles from the external circuit, store the trim value in the memory and control the clock trim circuitry to trim the frequency of the clock signal generated by the ring oscillator using the trim value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2007
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Gary Shipton, Simon Robert Walmsley
  • Patent number: 7167810
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for an analysis tool for analysis of the sensor performance of a system of sensors, which method comprises analytical calculation of a sensor system's measurement characteristics at each point in a given geographical area. The method comprises obtaining performance parameters from N sensors that are in the system. The method is characterized in that a set of analytical performance parameters for the system is calculated by the performance parameters being fused irrespective of the different measurement characteristics of the sensors in the system with regard to the given performance parameters and in that the analytical parameters are used in the analysis of the performance of the sensor system. The invention also relates to a device for use of the method and to the use of the method and the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2007
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Thomas Kronhamn, Åke Andersson
  • Patent number: 7158919
    Abstract: A remote monitoring system including a sub-system, local to a nuclear power plant and a remote sub-system at an operations base. Process data is collected manually by a hand-held computer and automatically by instrumentation on the power plant. The data collected is stored on a storage device before being transmitted via a communication link to a remote computer. The remote computer runs data analysis and diagnostic simulations on the process data from the power plant to predict future events.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc
    Inventors: Gary S Wright, John P Shoesmith
  • Patent number: 7158896
    Abstract: Systems and/or methods are disclosed for measuring and/or controlling an amount of impurity that is dissolved within an immersion medium employed with immersion lithography. The impurity can be photoresist from a photoresist layer coated upon a substrate surface. A known grating structure is built upon the substrate. A real time immersion medium monitoring component facilitates measuring and/or controlling the amount of impurities dissolved within the immersion medium by utilizing light scattered from the known grating structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Bhanwar Singh, Srikanteswara Dakshina-Murthy, Khoi A. Phan, Ramkumar Subramanian, Bharath Rangarajan, Iraj Emami
  • Patent number: 7155351
    Abstract: A method for checking a microprocessor for correct operation, the microprocessor having a plurality of gates, each having a plurality of transistors, in which during the intended running of a computer program on the microprocessor a self-test is cyclically executed, and as part of the self-test, gates in the microprocessor are checked for correct operation. In order to check the microprocessor for correct operation in such a way that the functional check is able to detect at an early stage such errors which occur only during the intended operation of the microprocessor, and to the extent possible not to make use of models of the open-loop or closed-loop control algorithms, at least those gates of the microprocessor whose state has an impact on the intended running of the computer program on the microprocessor are checked during one run of the self-test.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2006
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Klaus-Peter Mattern, Michael Hering, Werner Harter
  • Patent number: 7155371
    Abstract: A measuring device (1) has, e.g., a voice input portion (27) for a measurer to input an arbitrary comment at a time of measurement, and it allows a voice recognition portion (28) to recognize the measurer's comment inputted by the voice input portion (27) and also allows a recognition result to be stored in a comment storing portion (43) in correlation with information on date and time, thereby storing conditions or the like of the measurer at the time of measurement, together with the measurement data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2006
    Assignee: Arkray, Inc.
    Inventors: Masanao Kawatahara, Akinori Kai, Toshihiko Harada
  • Patent number: 7155353
    Abstract: A method of determining a charging capacitance of a capacitor in an air bag system having an electronic control unit for controlling a gas generator, a bus line having a loop wire extending from the electronic control unit, gas generators connected to the loop wire, each gas generator having an igniter connected to the loop wire via a connector, one of the igniter and the connector being provided with an integrated circuit having the capacitor for providing power to a heat generating portion, a switching circuit for turning ON/OFF a supplying of current to the heat generating portion, and a microcomputer unit for controlling the switching circuit, the method including, determining a minimum charging capacitance of the capacitor necessary to operate the igniter based on a charging voltage and a minimum ignition energy required for making the heat generating portion of the igniter generate heat to ignite the priming.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2006
    Assignee: Daicel Chemical Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuyasu Okamoto, Shingo Oda
  • Patent number: 7146288
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining quantization error in data is disclosed. The method comprises gathering a plurality of data points, identifying a range of the data points, separating the data points into a plurality of segments, and estimating the quantization error by calculating the ratio between the data range and the quantity of segments. The apparatus comprises means for gathering a plurality of data points, means for identifying a range of the data points, means for separating the data points into a plurality of segments, and means estimating the quantization error by calculating the ratio between the range and the quantity of the segments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventor: Henry L. Welch
  • Patent number: 7143011
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for managing and diagnosing a state of a facility apparatus, and an object thereof is to provide a system for diagnosing the facility apparatus wherein, if information falling under a level of abnormality is extracted from gathered information on an operating state of the facility apparatus, an advanced analysis and diagnosis section on a facility diagnosis center side performs an advanced analysis and diagnosis process and promptly notifies a user side of the information on the best way of dealing with the facility apparatus determined to be abnormal, and further uploads a facility management data analysis program from the advanced analysis and diagnosis section to a facility monitoring section on the user side so that raw information of a large information amount can be analyzed on the user side without sending it to the facility diagnosis center side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2006
    Assignees: Asahi Kasei Engineering Corporation, Osamu Yoshie
    Inventors: Osamu Yoshie, Nobuyoshi Sato, Tatsuya Fukunaga
  • Patent number: 7139681
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system for managing and diagnosing a state of a facility apparatus, and an object thereof is to provide a system for diagnosing the facility apparatus wherein, if information falling under a level of abnormality is extracted from gathered information on an operating state of the facility apparatus, an advanced analysis and diagnosis section on a facility diagnosis center side performs an advanced analysis and diagnosis process and promptly notifies a user side of the information on the best way of dealing with the facility apparatus determined to be abnormal, and further uploads a facility management data analysis program from the advanced analysis and diagnosis section to a facility monitoring section on the user side so that raw information of a large information amount can be analyzed on the user side without sending it to the facility diagnosis center side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2006
    Assignees: Asahi Kasei Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: Osamu Yoshie, Nobuyoshi Sato, Tatsuya Fukunaga
  • Patent number: 7136778
    Abstract: A non-invasive method, system, and computer product for monitoring I/O performance without using the RIO bus. When executing a performance benchmark run in a remote I/O drawer, the system logs into a bulk power controller, wherein the bulk power controller provides a communications path between the data processing system and the I/O drawer, and wherein the communications path allows the data processing system to access chip register information on the I/O drawer without using a RIO link. Using the communications path, the system may monitor I/O performance and obtain chip register information. The system may further increase performance by using software to detect a load imbalance. Through the communications path, the software is able to dynamically balance the load by changing the chip register settings to allow the initialization registers to handle the load more efficiently.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mike Conrad Duron, Mark David McLaughlin
  • Patent number: 7133788
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to the field of semiconductor manufacturing. In one example, in a production flow of low-volume, high-precision semiconductor products, a method for controlling critical dimensions of a semiconductor product during a semiconductor processing operation in the production flow, the semiconductor processing operation requiring a desired energy value to achieve the critical dimensions includes: measuring a previously formed critical dimension on the product; calculating a first energy value based on the measured critical dimension and a desired critical dimension for the semiconductor processing operation; and obtaining the desired energy value based on the calculated first energy value and a previously-obtained desired energy for the semiconductor processing operation performed on a prior product in the production flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2006
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: You-Wei Shen, Young-Cheng Chen
  • Patent number: 7133800
    Abstract: a Sensor Web formed of a number of different sensor pods. Each of the sensor pods include a clock which is synchronized with a master clock so that all of the sensor pods in the Web have a synchronized clock. The synchronization is carried out by first using a coarse synchronization which takes less power, and subsequently carrying out a fine synchronization to make a fine sync of all the pods on the Web. After the synchronization, the pods ping their neighbors to determine which pods are listening and responded, and then only listen during time slots corresponding to those pods which respond.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2006
    Assignee: California Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Kevin A. Delin, Shannon P. Jackson