Patents Examined by Sean P. Shechtman
  • Patent number: 7974721
    Abstract: A fabrication aiding apparatus capable of easily and properly setting a margin line is provided. The apparatus includes a RAM (Random Access Memory) to store three-dimensional shape data on a model of an abutment tooth to which a dental prosthesis is applied, an accepting section to accept the input of specification of an angle formed between a line defining a contact point and a reference axis on a face containing the reference axis in the model, a contact point detecting section to detect, based on the three-dimensional shape data, three-dimensional position information about a contact with the line forming a specified angle with the reference axis on the face containing the reference axis in the model, and a margin determining section to determine, based on coordinates of a contact point, three-dimensional position information of a margin line in the model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: GC Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Shibata, Yoshinori Matsuda
  • Patent number: 7966081
    Abstract: Apparatus for managing a residential wastewater treatment system includes an in situ control unit that monitors an individual system. The control unit provides local control and alarms, and also sends status reports and/or alarms to a remote monitoring center via a telemetry device. The remote monitoring center makes information concerning the individual system available through a website.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2011
    Assignee: Service Pro Monitoring, LLC
    Inventor: Gregory D. Graves
  • Patent number: 7966079
    Abstract: Apparatus for managing a residential wastewater treatment system includes an in situ control unit that monitors an individual system. The control unit provides local control and alarms, and also sends status reports and/or alarms to a remote monitoring center via a telemetry device. The remote monitoring center makes information concerning the individual system available through a website.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2011
    Assignee: Service Pro Monitoring, LLC
    Inventor: Gregory D. Graves
  • Patent number: 7962229
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that enable various interface applications that more efficiently communicate data to users in an industrial control system. In one aspect, an industrial automation system is provided. The system includes a base presentation component to display one or more elements of an industrial control environment. Various display items can be dynamically superimposed on the base presentation component to provide industrial control information to a user. In another aspect of the industrial automation system, a location component is provided to identify a physical or a virtual location for a user in an industrial control environment. This can include a context component to determine at least one attribute for the user in view of the physical or virtual location. A presentation component then provides information to the user based in part on the physical or virtual location and the determined attribute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Clifton H. Bromley, Kevin G. Gordon, Eric G. Dorgelo, Shafin A. Virji, Marc D. Semkow, Douglas J. Reichard
  • Patent number: 7962246
    Abstract: A method for operating a wind turbine during a loss of communication is described that includes coupling a pitch controller to at least one wind turbine blade and to a wind turbine controller, establishing communication between the pitch controller and the wind turbine controller, and detecting a loss of communication between the pitch controller and the wind turbine controller. After a loss of communication is detected, the method further includes waiting for a first predetermined amount of time to elapse, independently pitching the at least one wind turbine blade to a predetermined position, waiting for a second predetermined amount of time to elapse, and maintaining the at least one wind turbine blade in the predetermined position until a rotation of the at least one wind turbine blade stops.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Joerg Middendorf, Hartmut Scholte-Wassink
  • Patent number: 7957842
    Abstract: A method includes determining how to adjust one or more manipulated variables using at least one model. The one or more manipulated variables are associated with a supply of conditioned air for drying one or more objects. The method also includes generating one or more control signals to control one or more controlled variables associated with the supply of conditioned air. The one or more controlled variables include temperature, dewpoint, and/or humidity of the conditioned air. The one or more manipulated variables include a flow of heated material (like steam) used to condition the conditioned air. The one or more manipulated variables could also include a number of active units in a humidifier. Generating the one or more control signals could include accumulating adjustments associated with the humidifier and generating a control signal to alter the number of active units in the humidifier when the accumulated adjustments exceed a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Howard M. Boder, Sam Altschuler
  • Patent number: 7949413
    Abstract: An operator interface terminal receives individual data points from a machine at individual time points. The operator interface terminal correlates the individual data points to the individual time points as the data points are received. The operator interface terminal transfers the data points correlated to the time points to a central information system. The operator interface terminal receives a control instruction from an operator. The operator interface terminal processes the control instruction to transfer a control signal to the machine, wherein the control signal drives the machine to operate based on the control instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Glenn Dorgelo, Brian Alexander Wall
  • Patent number: 7945341
    Abstract: A graphical user interface for use in phacoemulsification surgical systems that allows a user to select different pulse modes by touching portions of the display screen. The user interface includes first and second display elements. One display element includes a representation of the on-time of the pulses, and the other display element includes a representation of the off-time. The representations show how the on-time and off-time change relative to a position of a controller, such as a foot pedal. The representation show a constant time, or that a time increases or decreases as the foot pedal is pressed. To select a pulse mode, a user can scroll through different pulse representations by touching the screen at the display elements. The selected pulse mode can be continuous, pulse, burst and other modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Alcon, Inc.
    Inventors: Mikhail Boukhny, David Thoe
  • Patent number: 7937178
    Abstract: A charging method for a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, which can appropriately and promptly distribute profits between a customer and a manufacturer according to the yield of semiconductor devices. An indicator related to the yield of the semiconductor devices is measured, and a fee is charged for the usage of the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to the measured indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Moriya
  • Patent number: 7937182
    Abstract: By coordinating the amount and course of the crowning of the tool and the diagonal ratio, a twist is created with a simple tool, and superimposed on the natural twist, thus resulting in the twist required for the work piece. Furthermore, an additional portion of the crowning is superimposed on the portion of the crowning of the work piece which is the result of the crowning of the tool during the machining in the diagonal method, thus resulting in the required crowning of the work piece, with the additional portion of the crowning being generated by changing the spacing between tool and work piece during the machining.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Gleason-Pfauter Maschinenfabrik GmbH
    Inventor: Ingo Faulstich
  • Patent number: 7937168
    Abstract: An automated abnormal machine tracking and notifying method includes automatically collecting and analyzing a plurality of test results to obtain a plurality of abnormal information, storing the abnormal information in a machine status database, respectively counting an integral value of each abnormal information of at least a related potentially abnormal machine, judging whether a sum of the integral values of each potentially abnormal machine is greater than n, and automatically notifying at least a user of the potentially abnormal machine and the abnormal information by an automatic notification subsystem when the sum of the integral values is greater than n.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: United Microelectronics Corp.
    Inventors: Tai-Chuan Chiang, Chan-Pai Liu
  • Patent number: 7937171
    Abstract: An appliance includes one or more control boards having control software to control the cycle of operation, and a graphical user interface with one or more instances of a user interface control in communication with the control boards. The appliance also has a binding map for associating the user interface control instances with one or more locator objects or one or more binding objects associated with the locator objects. The locator objects are associated with addressing information used to find renderable data for user interface control instances. The appliance also has a software framework for acquiring the renderable data at runtime by resolving the location of the renderable data from the addressing information and retrieving the renderable data from the location for use by the graphical user interface. With this structure, the software framework dynamically renders the graphical user interface at runtime based on the associations and addressing information in the binding map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
    Inventors: Mark E. Glotzbach, Brian N. Radford
  • Patent number: 7930041
    Abstract: An industrial control system communicating among various control elements via a serial network synchronizes the scanning loops associated with collecting and forwarding data along the network so as to substantially reduce transmission delay and jitter, using synchronization information passed along the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward C. Korsberg, David A. Vasko, Darren R. Klug, Petr Ptacek
  • Patent number: 7917251
    Abstract: A metering system for measuring the electrical power used to charge a vehicle is provided. The metering system includes an electrical meter operably coupled to a conductor connected to the vehicle and an electrical outlet. A controller receives signals from the meter to record the measured electrical consumption. The controller includes a plurality of communications devices for communicating with different communications carriers. In one embodiment, the controller selects one of the communications devices based on availability and a desired criterion. The selected communications device then transmits the measured electrical power consumption to a utility provider. In one embodiment, the metering system is mobile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
    Inventors: A. Arthur Kressner, Anthony F. Barna, Charles Feldman, Chi Yao Chen
  • Patent number: 7917241
    Abstract: A method and system of location specific processing on a plurality of substrates is described. The method comprises measuring metrology data for the plurality of substrates. Thereafter, the method comprises computing correction data for a first substrate using the metrology data, followed by computing correction data for a second substrate using the metrology data. While computing the correction data for a second substrate, the method comprises applying the correction data for a first substrate to the first substrate using a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: TEL Epion Inc.
    Inventors: Nicolaus J. Hofmeester, Steven P. Caliendo
  • Patent number: 7917243
    Abstract: A method for generating build sequence data for a computer-aided design model of a three-dimensional object, the method comprising identifying a location of an insert data representation in the computer-aided design model, slicing the computer-aided design model into a plurality of sliced layers, generating a plurality of support layers for at least a portion of the plurality of sliced layers, and generating an unfilled region in the computer-aided design model at the identified location of the insert data representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Stratasys, Inc.
    Inventors: David M. Kozlak, Donald J. Holzwarth, J. Samuel Batchelder
  • Patent number: 7908022
    Abstract: A system and method of optimizing a manufacturing process so as to reduce toxic waste in the process. In an embodiment, the method includes: describing the manufacturing process using a plurality of nodes, each node representing a component or a process; connecting the plurality of nodes with directed edges to form a directed graph, the directed graph representing possible manufacturing process flows from a begin node to an end node; assigning to each edge a value representative of a cost resulting from toxic waste generated by a component or process; and determining a shortest path from the begin node to the end node in the directed graph to identify manufacturing process flow having a minimum cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Lucas G. Franco
  • Patent number: 7899582
    Abstract: A method for calculating availability in line power systems composed of power circuit modules determines power circuit parameters associated with the power circuits, accepting input from central databases. The method calculates a required number of power circuits to complete the line power system, and calculates the total power to be delivered over the power system, based on a power calculator. The method calculates individual power circuit availabilities based on die power circuit compositions and external variables. The method then calculates an overall system availability based on the power circuit availabilities and other external variable inputs. The method may compare the calculated line power system availability with a target availability, revise the power circuit parameters, and recalculate the system availability to meet the target availability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventors: David L. Kimble, Arvind R. Mallya
  • Patent number: 7899568
    Abstract: A substrate processing system of the present invention includes a transfer-in/out section for transferring-in/out a substrate and a processing section for performing a plurality of processing and treatments on the substrate, in which a throughput of substrate processing at a pre-stage performed from when the substrate is transferred in from the transfer-in/out section to when the substrate is transferred out to the external apparatus is set higher than a throughput of substrate processing at a post-stage performed from when the substrate is returned from the external apparatus into the processing section to when the substrate is returned into the transfer-in/out section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventor: Yuichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 7894925
    Abstract: A method for determining the seam location for each layer of a multilayer radome for use with an array antenna includes the steps of quantizing the radome thickness, and forming an image of the quantized thickness vs. line array position. Seam locations are assigned for an original population, and a genetic algorithm is iterated to optimize a cost function. The cost function is the level of all sidelobes other than the main lobe. The result of the genetic algorithm is an optimized set of seam locations. The radome is built with the seam locations corresponding to the optimized locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher W. Peters