Patents Examined by Thai H Tran
  • Patent number: 10845621
    Abstract: A transmitter coil inductively couples to a receiver coil contained in a contact lens. In one approach, the transmitter coil is contained in a headgear, for example a head band. When the user wears the headgear, the transmitter coil is positioned on a side of the user's head and between the user's ear and the user's eye opening. In one implementation, a head band loops from one ear behind the user's head to the other ear, and also extends slightly forward of each ear. The transmitter coil(s) may be located in the portion of the headband that extends forward of each ear. This places the transmitter coil close to the receiver coil, typically within 40-50 mm of the user's eye opening, while still maintaining an unobtrusive aesthetic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Hawk Yin Pang, Richard Gioscia, Michael West Wiemer
  • Patent number: 10826496
    Abstract: An operator control device has a control panel with a user side facing a user and an inner side facing away from the user. The control panel has an operator control element region. A rotary knob is positioned on the user side of the control panel in the region of the operator control element region and can be rotated about a rotational axis. The rotary knob is detachably attached to the control panel and has an encoder block with a code section which is at a distance, changing along the circumferential direction, from a lower end side, facing the control panel, of the rotary knob. An optical sensor is arranged on the inner side of the control panel in the region of the operator control element region and is configured to sense a distance between the optical sensor and the code section of the encoder block by electromagnetic radiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Diehl AKO Stiftung & Co. KG
    Inventors: Joachim Lyszus, Bruno Fuhge
  • Patent number: 10825606
    Abstract: A power transmission unit includes a power transmission coil, a substrate, and a substrate shielding member. The power transmission coil transmits power to a counterpart power transmission coil in a non-contact manner. The substrate is formed in a plate shape, provided such that the substrate faces the power transmission coil, and electrically coupled to the power transmission coil. A current flows between the substrate and the power transmission coil. The substrate shielding member is formed in a plate shape and provided on a side opposite to a side adjacent to the power transmission coil of the substrate. The substrate shielding member shields a magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Antony Wambugu Ngahu, Ryohei Nishizaki
  • Patent number: 10826333
    Abstract: An NFC antenna power taking device includes an antenna, a rectifying module, an energy storage module, and a current adjusting module; the antenna is configured to convert the received electromagnetic field energy into a first voltage, the rectifying module is configured to rectify the first voltage to obtain a second voltage, the second voltage is configured to charge the energy storage module through the current adjusting module, the current adjusting module is configured to adjust the charging current, when the second voltage has a tendency to weaken due to the weakening of the electromagnetic field, the energy storage module is configured to discharge directly to maintain the stability of power supply and ensure the normal operation of the circuit, avoiding overload of the NFC field caused by the energy storage module with large capacity getting too much energy at the moment of the NFC device entry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: EXCELSECU DATA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD
    Inventor: Liuzhang Chen
  • Patent number: 10819158
    Abstract: A wireless power supply system may comprise a wireless power transmitting circuit configured to transmit radio-frequency (RF) signals, and a wireless power receiving circuit configured to convert power from the RF signals into a direct-current (DC) output voltage stored in an energy storage element. The wireless power transmitting circuit may be electrically or magnetically coupled to an antenna and/or electrical wiring of a building for transmitting the RF signals. The wireless power transmitting circuit may be housed in an enclosure that is affixed in a relative location with respect to the wireless power receiving circuit. The antenna may comprise two antenna wires that extend from the enclosure. The wireless power receiving circuit may be electrically or magnetically coupled to an antenna for receiving the RF signals. The wireless power receiving circuit may comprise an RF-to-DC converter circuit for converting the power from the RF signals into a DC output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
    Inventor: Sean R. Pearson
  • Patent number: 10819161
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a detecting device including a coil electromagnetically coupled to the external, a resonant circuit that includes at least the coil, and a detecting section that superimposes a measurement signal for measuring the Q-factor of the resonant circuit on a power transmission signal transmitted to the coil in a contactless manner and removes the power transmission signal from an alternating-current signal obtained by superimposing the measurement signal on the power transmission signal. The detecting section measures the Q-factor by using the alternating-current signal from which the power transmission signal is removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Keigo Bunsen, Hiroaki Nakano, Tomomichi Murakami, Shinichi Fukuda
  • Patent number: 10811882
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system to control and test a solar inverter are provided. The method commissions a solar inverter of a solar plant before it is placed into power production. The commissioning process verifies that the inverter to be tested is functioning as intended by connecting a first inverter to the inverter to be commissioned, and using the first inverter to emulate the power grid without being connected to the power grid, and circulate reactive and limited active power between the first inverter and the inverter to be commissioned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY LTD
    Inventors: Siddharth Pant, Philip EdgarCrapse Stone, Bacil Shaqqo, Rajesh Bhupathi, Shrutish Dawande
  • Patent number: 10804747
    Abstract: A turret system includes a base subassembly and a turret subassembly. The base subassembly includes a base housing and a first turret mounting interface coupled to the base housing. The base subassembly also includes a first antenna configured to wirelessly transmit an electrical power signal. The turret subassembly includes a turret housing and a second turret mounting interface coupled to the turret housing. The second turret mounting interface is configured to rotate with respect to the first turret mounting interface, thereby rotating the turret housing with respect to the base housing. The turret subassembly further comprises a second antenna configured to wirelessly receive the electrical power signal from the first antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas E. Byrd, Joshua E. Baer, David L. Hunn
  • Patent number: 10804748
    Abstract: Wireless power transmitting equipment may transmit wireless power signals to wireless power receiving equipment. The wireless power transmitting equipment may have a wireless power transmitter coupled to a wireless power transmitting coil. The wireless power receiving equipment may have a wireless power receiving coil coupled to wireless power receiving circuitry such as a rectifier. Foreign object detection coil arrays may be formed from arrays of metal traces on printed circuit substrates that overlap the wireless power transfer coils. Control circuitry in the transmitting equipment and the receiving equipment may monitor signals from foreign object detection circuitry that is coupled to the coil arrays. The foreign object detection circuitry may produce in-phase and quadrature signals that are indicative of whether a foreign object is overlapping a foreign object detection coil array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Hunter H. Wu, Anlang Lu, Brandon Pierquet, Jouya Jadidian
  • Patent number: 10804735
    Abstract: Techniques for providing an uninterruptible power supply are disclosed. An example system includes three single-phase Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) and an adapter. The adapter is to receive three-phase AC power, and separate the three-phase AC power into three separate single-phase outputs. Each single-phase output is coupled to an input of one of the three single-phase UPSs. An output of each one of the single-phase UPSs is coupled to one of three single-phase inputs of the adapter, and the adapter is to combine the three single-phase inputs into a single three-phase output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Hai Ngoc Nguyen, Daniel Hsieh, Abhishek Banerjee
  • Patent number: 10790760
    Abstract: A dual voltage power system for selectively providing direct current (DC) at two different voltages. The system includes a plurality of universal rectifiers each of which may be configured to operate under a plurality of operating modes using a plurality of switches which may be controlled by a power shelf controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Pedro Angel Fernandez, Bing Cai, Yuyu Qiao
  • Patent number: 10778046
    Abstract: In this non-contact power feeding system that is capable of transmitting power from a power transmitting device (1) to a power receiving device (2) by a magnetic field resonance scheme, the power transmitting device (1) is provided with first to n-th resonant circuits (TT[1]-TT[n]) which are provided with coils (TL) that are different in size, respectively, and which have a resonant frequency set to a prescribed reference frequency. Prior to power transmission, test magnetic fields are generated in sequence in the first to n-th resonant circuits to detect the amplitude of current flowing through the coils of respective resonant circuits, and the presence/absence of a foreign object is determined on the basis of the obtained first to n-th amplitude detected values, to control execution of the power transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Ikefuji, Akihiro Okui
  • Patent number: 10765950
    Abstract: A wireless electrical connection box has a plurality of electrical receptacles secured within a translucent or transparent lock box. The lock box may by opened by use of a key or other securing means. The plurality of electrical receptacles may be actuated or deactivated wirelessly by means of a proprietary application associated with a portable electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Inventor: Rich Clementi
  • Patent number: 10734827
    Abstract: A power supply system includes a DC-DC converter, a relay, and a control unit configured to i) start up the DC-DC converter based on a state transition of an ignition signal from OFF to ON, ii) cause the DC-DC converter to output a first low voltage when a high-voltage battery is connected to the DC-DC converter by the relay, iii) cause the DC-DC converter to output a voltage specified by an output voltage command in a case where the output voltage command is provided from a high-order ECU after output of the first low voltage is started, and iv) cause the DC-DC converter to output a fixed voltage higher than the first low voltage in a case where the output voltage command is not provided from the high-order ECU by a time at which a first time elapses after the output of the first low voltage is started.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenji Terao
  • Patent number: 10707698
    Abstract: A power transmitter (101) for inductively transferring power to a power receiver (105) comprises a resonance circuit (201) comprising a transmitter coil (103) for generating a power transfer signal. A sampler (511) samples a current through, or voltage over, the transmitter coil (103). A message receiver (509) receives messages load modulated onto the power transfer signal based on the samples. A driver (203) generates a drive signal for the resonance circuit (201) and a resonance modification circuit (505) reduces the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit (201) by slowing a state change for a resonating component of the resonance circuit (201) for a fractional time interval of the cycles of the drive signal. A sample time controller (513) controls the sample times in response to at least one of start-times and end-times of the fractional time intervals, and specifically may set the sample times to be within the fractional time intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Neil Francis Joye, Klaas Jacob Lulofs
  • Patent number: 10707681
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for setting a virtual impedance ratio of a power conditioning unit (PCU). In one embodiment, the method comprises applying a disturbance to a virtual AC voltage of a power conditioning unit (PCU) operating in a virtual impedance droop control mode in which the PCU appears, from the perspective of a power grid coupled to the PCU, as a virtual AC voltage source in series with a virtual impedance; measuring the phase of the applied disturbance on the power grid; comparing the measured phase of the applied disturbance on the power grid to the phase of the disturbance; and adjusting, when the measured phase of the applied disturbance on the power grid differs from the phase of the disturbance by more than a threshold amount, a ratio of a resistive impedance of the virtual impedance to an inductive impedance of the virtual impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Enphase Energy, Inc.
    Inventor: Donald Richard Zimmanck
  • Patent number: 10695476
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for wireless power transfer and communications are provided. In one embodiment, a wireless power transfer system comprises an external transmit resonator configured to transmit wireless power, an implantable receive resonator configured to receive the transmitted wireless power from the transmit resonator, and a user interface device comprising a resonant coil circuit, the resonant coil circuit being configured to receive magnetic communication signals from the transmit resonator or the receive resonator and to display information relating to the magnetic communication signals to a user of the user interface device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: TC1 LLC
    Inventor: John Freddy Hansen
  • Patent number: 10693297
    Abstract: Disclosed is a centralized MPPT exiting method for a photovoltaic inverter comprising multiple DC chopper circuits and one inverter circuit. The method comprises: when the photovoltaic inverter is in a centralized MPPT mode, MPPT control is implemented independently for each photovoltaic cell in a photovoltaic component and the maximum power point for each photovoltaic cell is obtained; a reference value of the maximum power point for each photovoltaic cell is determined according to the type of the multiple DC chopper circuits; whether the voltage difference between the other maximum power points and the reference value goes beyond an allowable voltage difference is judged and the operation of the DC chopper circuits connecting to the photovoltaic cells with a voltage difference beyond the allowable voltage difference is recovered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: SUNGROW POWER SUPPLY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fenggang Zhang, Hua Ni, Qun Zheng, Yanhu Zhang, Bing Hu
  • Patent number: 10693323
    Abstract: A power transmitter (101) inductively transferring power to a power receiver (105) comprises a resonance circuit (201) comprising a transmitter coil (103). A driver (203) generates a drive signal for the resonance circuit (201) and a data receiver (513) receives messages load modulated onto a power transfer signal by the power receiver (105) during communication time intervals. An error unit (507) determines a coil current error and a control loop (511) controls the current through the transmitter coil (103) in response to the coil current error with the control loop (511) being active during the communication time intervals. A loop response of the control loop is attenuated for coil current errors in a reduced control range relative to coil current error indications outside the reduced control range, where the reduced control range includes a zero coil current error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Neil Francis Joye, Klaas Jacob Lulofs
  • Patent number: 10686315
    Abstract: A method for operating an inverter and an inverter configured to convert DC power supplied from a DC power source into AC power supplied to an AC network by applying maximum power point tracking, MPPT, such that a harmonic content of an AC current supplied from the inverter to the AC network is kept within a predetermined maximum level, wherein during the converting the inverter is configured to detect a need to increase the harmonic content of the AC current supplied from the inverter to the AC network beyond the predetermined maximum level, perform a check whether an increase of the harmonic content of the AC current beyond the predetermined maximum level is allowed, and, if an increase of the harmonic content of the AC current beyond the predetermined maximum level is allowed, raise the predetermined maximum level used in the converting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Matti T. Jussila, Tomi Riipinen, Jesse Kokkonen