Patents Examined by Thomas K. Pham
  • Patent number: 7593779
    Abstract: A control device with two processors includes: a circuit substrate; a first central processing unit disposed on the circuit substrate to receive a control signal for controlling the operation of a first device; a second central processing unit disposed on the circuit substrate to receive a control signal for controlling the operation of a second device; and a first communication circuit disposed between the first central processing unit and the second central processing unit for providing communications between them. The first central processing unit further processes the kernel control software and peripheral software of the first device and the peripheral software of an air conditioner. The second central processing unit further processes the peripheral software of the first device and the peripheral software of the first device in order to respectively control the operations of the first and second devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Tony Hsieh, David Chen
  • Patent number: 7433741
    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: September 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    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: 7353070
    Abstract: An arrangement in a building control system includes a plurality of field panel devices. Each field panel device is configured to receive control inputs and further configured to provide control outputs to at least one building control device. Each field panel device includes a data store, a communication circuit, and a processing circuit. The data store maintains a set of global data that is shared by all field panel devices. The communication circuit is operably connected to others of the plurality of field panel devices via a logical network. The processing circuit is operable to communicate changes of any of the set of global data to at least one other field panel device via the communication circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2008
    Assignee: Siemens Building Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruno P. Landou, Joseph F. Vitaterna, Robert L. Old, Jr., Robert Gaffaney, Robert Kalafut
  • Patent number: 7349748
    Abstract: The invention relates to methods and devices for developing programs for process control systems and in particular for mathematically intensive or, as the case may be, mathematically complex programs of said kind. According to the prior art programs of said kind were written in a separate development environment and subsequently the developed algorithm was re-implemented using a programming language available for the process control system and the associated compiler. The programming and testing were consequently both time-intensive and prone to error. It is proposed to split the overall algorithm into two parts when programming programs of said kind, a) the actual control algorithm by means of which the mathematical functionality of a controller is provided, and b) the algorithm by means of which the process control system-specific functionality of the above controller is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2008
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Dirk Abel, Hubert Bellm, Ulrich Epple, Herbert Grieb, Ansgar Münnemann, Philipp Orth, Bernd-Markus Pfeiffer, Gerd-Ulrich Spohr
  • Patent number: 7349746
    Abstract: Thousands of process and equipment measurements are gathered by the modern digital process control systems that are deployed in refineries and chemical plants. Several years of these data are historized in databases for analysis and reporting. These databases can be mined for the data patterns that occur during normal operation and those patterns used to determine when the process is behaving abnormally. These normal operating patterns are represented by sets of models. These models include simple engineering equations, which express known relationships that should be true during normal operations and multivariate statistical models based on a variation of principle component analysis. Equipment and process problems can be detected by comparing the data gathered on a minute by minute basis to predictions from these models of normal operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2008
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company
    Inventors: Kenneth F. Emigholz, Robert K. Wang, Stephen S. Woo, Richard B. McLain, Sourabh K. Dash, Thomas A. Kendi
  • Patent number: 7337020
    Abstract: An open-loop and closed-loop control unit for a safety-relevant apparatus, in particular for aviation applications, has a computer unit with a number of computer inputs and computer outputs, and a circuit unit with a number of circuit inputs and circuit outputs. The circuit unit has hardware components for simulating some of the logic operations that can be carried out in the computer unit. The circuit inputs and computer inputs that correspond to one another with respect to the simulated logic operations are each connected in parallel to a signal input line. The computer outputs and circuit outputs which correspond to one another with respect to the simulated logic operations are each connected to a decision-making unit, by which an output signal for open-loop control of the safety-relevant apparatus can be emitted as a function of the correspondence between the signals from the computer output and from the circuit output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Diehl Avionik Systeme GmbH
    Inventor: Stefan Orth
  • Patent number: 7337023
    Abstract: An agricultural working machine has at least one working unit, a driver's cab; at least one display unit provided in the driver's cab and having a basic electronic viewing screen for showing a plurality of machine and/or crop parameters stored in different functionality windows, the at least one display unit being assigned to the at least one working unit, the at least one display unit with the basic electronic viewing screen and the different functionality windows being formed so that when at least one additional functionality window is open, an open functionality window is zoomed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: CLAAS Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH
    Inventor: Norbert Diekhans
  • Patent number: 7337017
    Abstract: The invention relates to an automation system with a programmable controller (6), the programmable controller (6) exhibiting deterministic behavior and being provided to produce at least one first result value (13) from at least one first input value (3, 4, 5), as well as a method for controlling a technical process or a technical system with an automation system of this type. To improve the reaction of the automation system in situations for which no account is taken at the engineering stage, it is proposed that additional means for affective control (7) are provided which produce at least one state value (9) by means of situation evaluation means (8) from at least one second input value (1, 2) and for linking the state value (9) with an attribute profile (10) in order to form a second result value (11), the linkage means (14) being provided to link the first result value (13) to the second result value (11) in order to form at least one output value (15).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Clemens Dinges, Matthias Ehrmann, Michael Schlereth
  • Patent number: 7333860
    Abstract: A semiconductor power supplying apparatus driven by a power source includes at least two driven circuits for performing prescribed data processing when electric power is supplied. An electric power supplying circuit is provided so as to convert power from the power source as needed to supply at least two driven circuits with electric power in accordance with voltages that the driven circuits need. A driven circuit power supplying condition signal generating device is provided so as to generate a driven circuit power supplying condition signal for determining a power supplying condition of all of the at least two driven circuits. A power supplying control signal generation circuit is also provided so as to generate a power supplying control signal for controlling operation of the power supplying circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tatsuya Fujii
  • Patent number: 7330778
    Abstract: A method for determining the operating parameters of a system for cooling articles. The temperature of the articles, as they leave a chamber, is predicted. The prediction is made on the basis of operating parameters of the chamber, thermodynamic and physical characteristics of the chamber, and thermodynamic and physical characteristics of the articles. The method may be used to determine the operating parameters for food freezing tunnels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2008
    Assignee: L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme a Directoire et Conseil de Surveillance pour L'Etude et L'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
    Inventors: Bernard Delpuech, Pascal Favier, Sylvain Fourage
  • Patent number: 7330768
    Abstract: A process plant includes a safety system that is physically and logically integrated with a process control system such that the safety system and the process control system can use common communication, configuration hardware and software within the process plant while still providing functional isolation between the safety system controllers and the process control system controllers. This integrated process control and safety system uses a common data communication structure for both the safety system and the process control system so that the configuration application can send data to and receive data from devices in either system in the same manner, e.g., using the same communication hardware and software.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2008
    Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Cindy Scott, Julian Naidoo, Gary Law, Michael G. Ott, Deeann Gates Del Guzzi
  • Patent number: 7330766
    Abstract: An electronic device system (10) includes an electronic device unit (parent device) (1) connected to an external device (5) and a plurality of electronic device units (child devices) (2 to 4) connected in series to it. An initialization instruction from a CPU (20) of the parent device (1) turns off all the switches (22) for opening/closing the RS-485 line connecting all the electronic device units. The parent device (1) successively generates identification codes (ID). A parent device (1) starts to set the code as its ID and turns on the switch (22) of the electronic device unit after the setting is complete. Thus, ID's are automatically set from the parent device (1) to the child devices (2 to 4) successively in the order of the connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2008
    Assignee: Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Kuwayama, Akio Segawa
  • Patent number: 7328347
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus distinguish the origin of operator inputs in electronic control systems having at least one first operating element and at least one second operating element. A first signal is processed in the electronic control system when the at least one first operating element is operated. The first signal differs from a second signal emitted by the at least one second operating element when the latter is operated, by virtue of an electronic identifier assigned to the at least one first operating element. A printing machine having the apparatus is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2008
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Reiner Keim, George Röβler, Mario Rottloff
  • Patent number: 7328073
    Abstract: The present invention relates to processing apparatus utilising dynamic scaling of voltage (DVS), and in particular although not exclusively to a controller for such apparatus. The invention is especially applicable to software defined radio (SDR), but is not so limited and may be applied to other re-configurable electronic systems. The present invention provides a controller for a processing apparatus having a plurality of processing resources, at least some of said resources having controllable supply voltage and/or frequency; the controller comprising: means for scheduling operations on said resources, at least some of said operations having a predetermined deadline by which the operation must be performed; means for determining a voltage and/or frequency profile for a said operation having a said deadline; and means for instructing the resources to perform said operations according to said schedule and said profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2008
    Assignee: Toshiba Corporation
    Inventor: Anthony Craig Dolwin
  • Patent number: 7321799
    Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed for providing a motion signal to a motion platform comprising a plurality of actuators. The apparatus comprises a formatting unit receiving a motion signal indication of a motion to perform on the motion platform and formatting the motion signal and a synchronizing unit receiving the formatted signal and providing a synchronized and formatted motion signal to the motion platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2008
    Assignee: D-Box Technologies Inc.
    Inventor: Bruno Paillard
  • Patent number: 7319908
    Abstract: A system that facilitates managing resources (e.g., functionality, services) based at least in part upon an established context. More particularly, a context determination component can be employed to establish a context by processing sensor inputs or learning/inferring a user action/preference. Once the context is established via context determination component, a power/mode management component can be employed to activate and/or mask resources in accordance with the established context. The power and mode management of the device can extend life of a power source (e.g., battery) and mask functionality in accordance with a user and/or device state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Sinclair, David W. Williams, Zhengyou Zhang, Zicheng Liu
  • Patent number: 7319909
    Abstract: In a quadruple loop position control device (1) including: a drive controller (5) having a current control loop that controls motor current (I) and a motor speed control loop that controls a motor speed (Vm); a speed control loop (3) that controls a speed (Vd) of a driven body (2); and a position control loop (4) that controls a position (Pd) of the driven body (2), an adder (6) that adds an output value from the position control loop (4) and an output value from the speed control loop (3) and inputs an addition result to the motor speed control loop is provided. By providing the adder (6), the position control device (1) functions as a control device of a first-order system, so that occurrence of an overshoot may securely be avoided even when respective transfer functions of the position control device (1) are set for purpose of suppressing a vibrating behavior of the driven body (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2008
    Assignee: Mitutoyo Corporation
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 7317956
    Abstract: Every time a display select button is operated, an embedded controller/keyboard controller switches and controls a display select switch to switch between display data (internally processed data) for LCD display that is output from the first display controller, and display data (externally input data or processed internally processing data) for the LCD display that is output from a second display controller. The selected data is displayed on a display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2008
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Makoto Kosaka
  • Patent number: 7317953
    Abstract: An adaptive multivariable process control system includes a multivariable process controller, such as a model predictive controller, having a multivariable process model characterized as a set of two or more single-input, single-output (SISO) models and an adaptation system which adapts the multivariable process model. The adaptation system detects changes in process inputs sufficient to start an adaptation cycle and, when such changes are detected, collects process input and output data needed to perform model adaptation. The adaptation system next determines a subset of the SISO models within the multivariable process model which are to be adapted, based on, for example, a determination of which process inputs are most correlated with the error between the actual (measured) process output and the process output developed by the multivariable process model. The adaptation system then performs standard or known model switching and parameter interpolation techniques to adapt each of the selected SISO models.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2008
    Assignee: Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Wilhelm K. Wojsznis, Terrence L. Blevins, Mark J. Nixon, Peter Wojsznis
  • Patent number: 7308320
    Abstract: A processor core for realizing efficient operation processing by connecting an extended arithmetic unit to its exterior and a processor incorporating such a processing core are provided. The processor includes the processor core, a data memory accessed by the processor core, and the extended arithmetic unit connected to the exterior of the processor core for processing a particular instruction. The extended arithmetic unit executes an arithmetic operation by using arithmetic operation data retained in a register file in the processor core, and directly outputs an arithmetic operation result to the processor core. Then, the processor core saves the result of the arithmetic operation executed by the extended arithmetic unit and inputted therefrom in the register file in the processor core.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2007
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Takashi Miyamori