Patents Examined by Tejal Gami
  • Patent number: 9592890
    Abstract: A system for controlling a towrope winch may comprise a computing device configured to send and receive data to and from the towrope winch, and a towrope winch application configured to operate on the computing device, in which the computing device is configured to operate the towrope winch based on data inputted by the user to the towrope winch application. A towrope winch user interface may comprise a processor configured to send and receive data to and from a towrope winch, and a towrope winch application configured to operate with the processor, in which the processor is configured to operate the towrope winch based on data inputted by the user to the towrope winch application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: GLOBAL INNOVATIVE SPORTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Ladd E. Christensen, John M. Welch, Tyson Triplett, Devin Hales
  • Patent number: 9581987
    Abstract: An agent 10 is associated with a user as a representative of the user. The agent 10 includes a utility value calculation unit 15 that calculates an expected utility value indicating utility for the user with respect to an operating condition of the load device 20 and a cooperation processing unit 16 that judges whether an operating condition of the load device 20 is acceptable or not to the user and uniquely determines an operating condition to be instructed to the load device if the operating condition is not acceptable to the user cooperating with other agents 10. Agents 10 that do not accept the operating condition of the load device 20 determine the operating condition of the load device 20 such that one agent acting as a manager and the other agent acting as a contractor so as to make (some) concession to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Nishiyama, Tetsuo Sawaragi
  • Patent number: 9547313
    Abstract: Some embodiments provide irrigation controllers comprising: a housing; a control unit including a first microcontroller configured to execute irrigation programs and a first set of code; and a removable plug-in device that removably mates with a portion of the irrigation controller and communicationally couples to the first microcontroller, wherein the plug-in device comprises a memory storing a second set of code to replace at least a portion of the first set of code, wherein the plug-in device is configured to re-flash at least a portion of the first set of code allowing a copy of the second set of code to overwrite at least the portion of the first set of code; wherein the first set of code comprises a bootloader that writes the copy of the second set of code over the first set of code with the exception of the bootloader that is not written over.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
    Inventors: Harvey J. Nickerson, Russel Dean Leatherman, James R. Musselman, Andrew M. Nguyen, Nicholas N. Lapshov
  • Patent number: 9543761
    Abstract: A method of controlling a home energy control system includes controlling the system to run in at least one of a new energy generating mode, a grid-connected inverter mode and an off-grid inverter mode after mode conflict check. In the new energy generating mode, a new energy generating unit is controlled to generate power to charge an energy storage unit. In the grid-connected inverter mode, the energy storage unit supplies power to a power grid or is charged by the power grid according to the status of the energy storage unit and power consumption of the power grid. In the off-grid inverter mode, household devices are supplied with power from the energy storage unit according to the status of the energy storage unit under the control of an off-grid inverter. A home energy control system is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignees: SHENZHEN BYD AUTO R&D COMPANY LIMITED, BYD COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Bo Li, Xiaofeng Shen, Jianhua Zhang
  • Patent number: 9536796
    Abstract: Methods and systems for multiple manufacturing line qualification are provided. A method includes establishing a product template and producing products on one or more manufacturing lines. The products include product macros placed on a chip. The method also includes establishing allowed parametric match from line to line. The method further includes determining that products from the one or more manufacturing lines meet the allowed parametric match.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC.
    Inventors: Jeanne P. Bickford, Kevin K. Dezfulian, Erik L. Hedberg
  • Patent number: 9523972
    Abstract: An exemplary method and apparatus are directed to distributed waveform recording for fault monitoring and analysis of a fault condition in a power distribution system. One or more instrument transformers along with merging units and a plurality of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) distributed in a plurality of hierarchical levels. The distributed waveform recording corresponds to a fault event at different levels in the power distribution system data is carried out by at least two devices configured to detect an event for recording and perform waveform recording. The data used for waveform recording and the data for detection of the event are based on a single stream of the sampled measured value data and are thereby are time synchronized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Vivek Gopalakrishnan, Sasi Kumar S. R., Bernhard Deck
  • Patent number: 9521793
    Abstract: A method for filling a carrier tape (10) with electronic components (12) and for removing and replacing defective electronic components (13) from the carrier tape, comprising the steps of: at a filling station (1), loading an electronic component in a pocket (11) of the carrier tape (10), moving said carrier tape (10) forward, automatically detecting that said electronic component which is defective, moving said carrier tape backward, and unloading the defective electronic component (13) from the carrier tape (10), at said filling station (1), filling said packet with a new electronic component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: ISMECA SEMICONDUCTOR HOLDINGS SA
    Inventors: Sylvain Vienot, Franco Craveiro, Philippe Roy
  • Patent number: 9504541
    Abstract: A method of designing a dental restoration component. A set of design dimensional constraints is defined which must be satisfied for the dental restoration component. A set of design parameters for the dental restoration component also is defined. Using at least in part a penalty function, a value is assigned to each of said design parameters for the dental restoration component, consistent with the constraints for said component, said penalty function taking into account at least more than one of said design parameters and which signals a constraint being reached when the value of any of said parameters violates a constraint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: DENTSPLY International Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald S. Scharlack, Alexander Yarmarkovich, Bethany Grant
  • Patent number: 9507349
    Abstract: A substrate transfer apparatus to transfer a circular substrate provided with a cutout at an edge portion thereof, includes: a sensor part including three light source parts applying light to positions different from one another at the edge portion, and three light receiving parts paired with the light source parts; and a drive part for moving the substrate holding part, wherein the three light source parts apply light to the light receiving parts so that whether or not a detection range of the sensor part overlaps with the cutout of the substrate is determined on the basis of an amount of received light by each light receiving part, and when it is determined that there is an overlap at any position, positions of the edge portion of the substrate are further detected with the position of the substrate displaced with respect to the sensor part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Tokutarou Hayashi, Yuichi Douki, Hiromitsu Maejima
  • Patent number: 9504133
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a plurality of lighting devices configured for wireless communications in a facility includes a data communications interface communicating with at least one of the devices. The controller further includes a control module configured to provide a control signal to the data communications interface for communicating to a transceiver associated with the device and for turning off the device according to an algorithm wherein the control signal is provided based on a time of day and/or a sensed condition relating to use of the facility. The transceiver reports device data to the control module to quantify a reduction in power obtained by controlling the devices according to the algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Orion Energy Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Neal R. Verfuerth, Michael J. Potts, Jun Wang, Anthony J. Bartol
  • Patent number: 9501072
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for controlling water temperature in a body of water. The temperature control system includes a processor, a user interface for receiving a desired temperature and a desired time for reaching the desired temperature, a sensor interface for receiving sensor information from one or more sensors, and an actuator interface for controlling a plurality of heat sources. The processor determines one or more optimal heat sources for heating the body of water to the desired temperature by the desired time. The processor controls the one or more optimal heat sources through the actuator interface and periodically polls the sensor interface to determine whether changes in the operating environment require additional or alternate heat sources to be activated to ensure that the body of water is heated to the desired temperature by the desired time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Hayward Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin L. Potucek, Gilbert Conover, Jr., James Murdock
  • Patent number: 9501805
    Abstract: Methods and systems for optimizing a building design. A geographic location and a human comfort zone are identified. It is determined whether to adjust the building design based on information comprising building simulated delivered energy data and whether the building design meets pre-determined comfort conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: INTEGRATED ENVIORNMENTALSOLUTIONS, LTD.
    Inventor: Donald John McLean
  • Patent number: 9494928
    Abstract: A numerical control apparatus includes a program analyzing unit configured to pre-fetch a tool replacement command and a post-replacement positioning command from a machining program and output these commands, a tool-replacement-command output unit configured to cause, based on the tool replacement command, a machine tool to execute a tool replacing operation, and a movement-command determining unit and an interpolating unit configured to start, when the post-replacement positioning command is an axis component command for positioning an axis related to the tool replacing operation, control of the axis based on the axis component command, after waiting for completion of the tool replacing operation, and start, when the post-replacement positioning command is an axis component command for positioning an axis unrelated to the tool replacing operation, control of the axis based on the axis component command, without waiting for the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yukihiro Iuchi, Daisuke Fujino, Shunro Ono
  • Patent number: 9489645
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for workflow decision management. Embodiments include maintaining a device state history; identifying a device usage pattern in dependence upon the device state history; and identifying a derived scenario in dependence upon the device usage pattern. The derived scenario has a tolerance. Embodiments also include identifying a workflow in dependence upon the derived scenario and executing the workflow in dependence upon the tolerance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: William Anthony Brown, Richard William Muirhead, Francis Xavier Reddington
  • Patent number: 9488973
    Abstract: Provided are a PLC device and a method for controlling the same. The method includes: receiving input data from an external; storing the received input data in an input area of a data input/output unit; reading the input data from the input area of the data input/output unit in order to perform a calculation operation; storing output data, which is a result of the calculation operation, in an output area of the data input/output unit; and transmitting the output data in the output area of the data input/output unit to an output circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jo Dong Park
  • Patent number: 9486888
    Abstract: A low-cost controller having a function for effectively displaying information of present motor output regarding the maximum output and the continuous rating output of the motor. The controller includes first and second storing parts which store first and second data, representing a relationship between a rotation frequency and a maximum output of the motor, and a relationship between the rotation frequency and a continuous rating output of the motor, respectively; first and second ratio calculating parts which calculate first and second ratios, corresponding to a ratio of one of the maximum output and the continuous rating output to the other at a present rotation frequency, and a ratio of a present actual output of the motor to the one of the maximum output and the continuous rating output at the present rotation frequency, respectively; and a displaying part which displays the first and second ratios on the same screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yuuki Morita
  • Patent number: 9490997
    Abstract: When selection of a device icon representing one target device among one or more target devices is sensed, a control screen for operating, or confirming a state of, the one target device corresponding to the sensed device icon is displayed on a display as overlapped on a display screen representing a floor plan, and device icons representing the one or more target devices are moved out of a display region of the control screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
    Inventors: Takamitsu Sasaki, Kohei Tahara
  • Patent number: 9483044
    Abstract: A control device for a machine tool including a motor for driving a spindle includes: a current detection unit that detects a current driving the motor; a storage unit that stores overheat temperature specified for the motor; a temperature detection unit that detects temperature of the motor; a time estimation unit that estimates, by using the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit and the overheat temperature, time from when present estimation takes place until the motor reaches the overheat temperature, under a condition in which the current detected by the current detection unit continuously passes through the motor; and a provision unit that provides the time estimated by the time estimation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohisa Tsutsumi, Yuuki Morita
  • Patent number: 9478968
    Abstract: A method for detecting a short circuit on a multiphase electrical energy supply network line includes recording current and voltage sampled values and generating a fault signal upon a fault evaluation performed by an electrical protection device indicating a short circuit. Instantaneous reference voltage values are calculated from instantaneous current and voltage sampled values recorded before the short, and instantaneous comparative voltage values are calculated from instantaneous current and voltage sampled values recorded before the short and instantaneous current and voltage sampled values recorded during the short, to generate a fault signal quickly. Then a rectified reference voltage value is calculated from consecutive instantaneous reference voltage values, and a rectified comparative voltage value is calculated from consecutive instantaneous comparative voltage values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Joerg Blumschein, Cezary Dzienis, Matthias Kereit
  • Patent number: 9476156
    Abstract: Disclosed is a portable terminal including a clothes information input unit, to which at least one of fiber blending ratio information of clothes and laundry care symbol information is input, a display unit to display the information input via the clothes information input unit, a storage unit in which a plurality of clothes treatment methods is stored, the clothes treatment methods being classified based on the at least one of the fiber blending ratio information of clothes and information on a handling method of clothes, and a controller that selects at least one of the clothes treatment methods stored in the storage unit based on the information input via the clothes information input unit, and allows the selected clothes treatment method to be displayed on the display unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Mijin Jung, Kyounghoon Ham, Mikyung Ha, Nayoung Youk